Photos by John Nation
A couple of years ago, Courteney Rouse doubted she would go to college after graduating from Jefferson County’s Pleasure Ridge Park High School. Her father had died, and the teenager knew family finances would be tight. She set her sights on military service after graduation, postponing the possibility of college. As with many teens, the thought of extending her education also made her "a little nervous," she says.
Now 17 and a PRP senior, Rouse is looking forward to attending Jefferson Community and Technical College next fall and eventually going on to a four-year college — thanks in large part to her experiences in a TV-production class at her high school. She will receive three hours of college credit for the course, as well as a boost toward post-secondary education. Teresa Renninger, one of the JCTC-accredited multimedia teachers at PRP, saw to it that Rouse visited the community college’s downtown Louisville campus, where the student saw firsthand that college can be both accessible and affordable. Thanks to PRP’s dual-credit program, Rouse also will have one course under her belt even before she enrolls. Earning college credits in high school has convinced the teen, according to her mother, that "she can fit in somewhere and make a difference."
Four Presentation Academy students double up their learning in a Spalding University classroom.
That describes one of the goals of an increasingly popular option available in public and private schools in Louisville and nationwide — college-level classes that enable high school students (usually juniors and seniors) to accelerate learning, prepare for college work and earn actual credit hours at reduced or no cost. The students who take these dual-credit classes aren’t just those who have been on the Ivy League track since preschool. The options for high school students range from traditional liberal arts, math and science to beginning courses in health careers, computer programming and trades that require certification, such as welding and carpentry.
Sheree P. Koppel, a School-to-Career Initiatives specialist at Jefferson County Public Schools, says that while earning college credits in high school is garnering lots of interest these days, the concept has been around for a while. It’s designed in part to "smooth the transition" from high school to college, engage students who are ready for more advanced work and prime those who might not otherwise be college-bound. Koppel says that in the 2004-05 school year, almost 14,000 JCPS students took classes through which they were able to earn college credits.
Pleasure Ridge Park senior Courteney Rouse is taking a dual-credit TV-production course through Jefferson Community and Technical College.
Some students att/files/storyimages/classes on local college campuses, including the University of Louisville, Bellarmine University, Spalding University and JCTC. Others stay at their own high schools and take college classes taught there by visiting college faculty or by high school teachers who have been accredited by a college and use college course outlines and textbooks. The cost of some credits is covered by the colleges; for others, students pay tuition, usually at a reduced rate. Financial aid is sometimes available. It’s also possible to earn dual credit through JCPSeSchool, the public schools’ online study program. (See the accompanying story for additional information on dual-credit options for Louisville-area public and private high school students.)
Koppel says the opportunity to earn college credits in high school provides a boost to students who might not otherwise consider post-secondary education. "Maybe I’ve come from a home where education is not focused on, or I may be a first-generation college-goer," she says of some students, "but now I have a college transcript in my hands. I have a connection with college. I see I can do the work."
Jake Stratton, 17, is another of more than 200 PRP students enrolled in dual-credit classes this school year. A senior who plans to become an engineer, Stratton is taking the equivalent of two semesters of college freshman English through U of L and a web-design class through JCTC. The classes are offered at his high school. "I’m not very good with English," he says, "and I figured in a high school setting it would be easier to take a class," and get more one-on-one attention than in a large college lecture hall. "It’s going to make college a lot easier," he says of his upcoming freshman year.
Dan Ash, JCTC vice president of external relations, notes that "all of us in higher education are trying to find ways to create better alignment between high school and college," making more high school graduates prepared for college-level work. And as the cost of attending college skyrockets, it’s not a bad idea to hit campus with a few credits already in hand.
As founding director of Louisville’s Metropolitan College, the consortium of local colleges and universities in the United Parcel Service School-to-Work Program, Ash has worked to increase college access for a wide range of students. "If you look at the confluence of alignment, affordability and capability, then it makes sense to (create) college-level courses for high school students," he says, adding that he would like to see "a facility where you would have students who, when they get their high school diploma, will have completed their first year in college. What a difference that would make," he says, in the affordability of a college degree.
PRP student Jake Stratton is earning college credits in English and web design in less-imposing high school surroundings.
Indeed, some communities around the country have freestanding "middle" or "early" colleges in which students earn one to two years of college credit as they complete high school, all under one roof. Many such programs target at-risk students, with funding provided by organizations such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Ash would like to see the full middle-college concept take root here, becoming available to nearly all students — from those who are highly motivated with lots of support at home to others for whom the opportunity to start accumulating college credits would be a first step toward becoming one of the first in a family to earn a post-secondary degree.
Elizabeth Mason, a 17-year-old senior at Jefferson County’s Iroquois High School, is taking a college-level class in welding through JCTC, where she hopes to att/files/storyimages/next fall. One of two girls in the class, she says, "It gives students a chance to experience more and figure out what kinds of jobs are in demand, and if you get good enough, you can get really good-paying jobs." Viviana Cordero, 18, also an Iroquois senior, likewise says her carpentry class is providing both college credits and real-world experience. "I’m doing something I really like and plan on doing in the future."
College-level classes, says Dave Howarth, associate provost at U of L, "get students better prepared and into more rigorous classes sooner." He points out that if students enter college with some credits already earned, they’re also likely to get their degrees sooner, helping to crank the local economic-development engine.
Colleges and universities also stand to benefit when high-achievers earn credits from a local institution in high school and then decide to enroll there. Sara Yount is director of Bellarmine’s ACCESS (Advanced College Credit for Exceptional Secondary Students) program, the oldest dual-credit program in Kentucky, aimed at high school juniors and seniors in Jefferson, Oldham and Bullitt counties who have an ACT score of 23 or higher and a grade-point average of 3.25 or above. The program got its start in 1971 as a partnership and recruitment tool, Yount says. But the opportunity to earn up to a semester of college credit at reduced cost appeals to students and their families as well.
Crunching College Credits
More than a dozen Jefferson County public high schools have partnerships with local colleges and universities. Some students, like those at duPont Manual and the Brown School, can att/files/storyimages/classes on campus at the University of Louisville or Jefferson Community and Technical College during the regular high school day, thanks to the proximity of the high schools to these particular college campuses. Likewise, in the private-school realm, Presentation Academy students can take classes for credit next door at Spalding University.
At other Jefferson County public high schools, dual-credit classes are taught within their own buildings, either by visiting college faculty members or by high school teachers who meet college accreditation requirements and use college course outlines and textbooks. Students enroll through the college or university and pay tuition, usually at a reduced rate. Need-based financial aid is sometimes available through the colleges.
At the /files/storyimages/of a course, students receive a college transcript with a record of the credits earned. Some colleges will accept only dual credit earned with a grade of A or B, and others will count credit toward upper-level course prerequisites, but not to fulfill requirements for a degree. Students should check dual-credit acceptance policies in advance with specific colleges and universities.
Students can also take traditional Advanced Placement (AP) classes, which follow curricula designed to prepare them to take the AP tests administered for a fee by the College Board each spring. Colleges and universities have varying policies on AP test scores and whether they will count toward prerequisites and/or degree credit.
In addition, many Jefferson County high schools have what are known as "articulation agreements" with JCTC, local proprietary schools like Sullivan University and ITT Technical Institute, and several union training programs. Under these agreements, courses in technical areas such as information technology, cosmetology, horticulture, masonry and plumbing are designed jointly by high school and college instructors to ensure that students who complete them come out with certifiable skills as well as college credits. The credits earned count toward certification or a degree only at the specific organization with which the high school has the agreement. Under this arrangement, some students finish high school with up to 24 credit hours, equivalent to about two college semesters. The cost of some articulation-agreement credits is covered by the sponsoring colleges or organizations.
Also, the United Parcel Service School-to-Work Program offers opportunities for high school students to earn college credits, as does JCPSeSchool. Both the University of Kentucky and Indiana University provide opportunities to earn dual credit, as well. Check with each school for additional information. A complete list of college-credit options for high school students, high school-college partnerships and articulation agreements is available through the JCPS School-to-Career Initiatives office (485-3133) and through individual public and private high schools..