DUAL CREDIT COURSES IN TEXAS- If you’re a parent living in Texas and you have a teenager taking dual-credit classes in high school that give college credit, you’ll want to pay attention to this next story. Raymund Paredes is the Lone Star state’s Commissioner of Higher Education, he told public radio's KERA there’s a study that will look at dual-course’s costs and effectiveness and how academically rigorous those courses are. “We have to get at the issue of whether the levels of rigor – although they are pretty much the same – are high enough to enable students to do college-level work.”
The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board has teamed up with the RAND Corporation and American Institutes for Research to conduct the study, which began last year with the first phase. Paredes has talked about whether some high school students are ready to take college-level courses. And he's worried about the kind of advice students are getting.
“We are concerned about transfer issues being more complicated as a result of all the dual credit courses students are taking. We know we have to improve advising. It still comes primarily (from) high school advisors rather than college or university advisor.”
Paredes says it would be good to get more college advisors involved. That way, students know which dual credit courses will prepare them for their majors.
Another portion of the report will look at how many kids who take these courses finish high school and go to college. “So we might be able to determine whether there’s a point at which dual credit really enhances college completion and below that threshold there might be less of an impact.”
The study will be presented to the state’s Higher Education Coordinating board when it meets next Thursday.
