• Always have thorough documentation of interactions with students
• Assume the student has no knowledge of college topics or process; always overexplain
• Provide thorough help to students about college in general, even if it means helping them get ready to attend another institution

• Thanks to dual credit programs, high school students account for up to half of community college enrollment at some institutions.
• Dual credit students are more likely to enroll in and complete college in a quicker fashion.
• Dual enrollment is creating financial issues for four-year colleges, as the most common dual credit courses cover introductory core courses such as freshman English, U.S. history, and mathematics.
• Universities are also concerned about the rigor of college courses taught in high schools due to the pressure of keeping success rates high.
• Many professors claim that dual credit courses are not equivalent to their traditional college counterparts
  • Because of this, many accreditation bodies are beginning to heighten the credential requirements of who can teach dual credit courses.
  • Some states are now requiring teachers to have a master's degree or a certain number of graduate-level hours in the curriculum they want to teach, not just education
• Others are considering how access to dual credit courses may also be inadvertently widening racial and socioeconomic gaps in success.
• The National Alliance of Concurrent Enrollment Partnerships (NACEP) is a relatively new accreditation body that is growing in popularity to help ease concerns over the quality of dual enrollment or dual credit classes.
  • As of the article's publication, 10 states require NACEP accreditation, and another 10 modeled their standards after NACEP's.

• The study found that there is a mostly positive view of dual enrollment among those involved with said programs
• 71 percent of UT students brought some type of college credit into the university, split between Advanced Placement (AP) and/or dual enrollment classes
• Students brought in an average of 18 credit hours
• Latino students were the most likely to bring in dual credit classes
• Dual credit students are more likely to be retained and graduate than non-credit bearing students and hold higher GPAs
• Dual credit students also admit that the programs gave students a false sense of confidence and limited time for academic exploration due to having core classes completed.
• The report made recommendations for students to compare course syllabi between their dual credit class and the corresponding college equivalent, recommended high school institutions to allow for collaboration with college resources, and limit the amount of teachers who split their time between teaching college and high school courses

• Primary law that protects the privacy of educational records
• Applies to any school that receives federal funding
• Parents have respective rights over students until they reach the age of 18
• Parents or students have the right to inspect and review a student's records maintained by the school
• Parents or students have the right to petition a record correction if believed to be inaccurate or misleading
• Schools must have written permission from parent or student to release any information on the records with limited exceptions, such as...
  • School officials with educational interest
  • Other schools to which a student is transferring 
  • Officials for audit or evaluation purposes
  • Parties in connection to financial aid
  • Judicial orders
  • Health and safety emergencies
  • State and local authorities
• Schools may also disclose directory information (name, address, phone number, etc.) without consent, but must also give students or parents reasonable time to request to not release directory information
• Gray area with dual enrollment students 
  • Explanation from U.S. Department of Education
    • FERPA rights transfer to students at any age when attending post-secondary institution
    • Dual enrollment student records can be exchanged between the two schools
    • Parents still retain FERPA rights for students under 18 at the high school and may inspect any records sent by the postsecondary institution to the high school
    • Postsecondary institution may disclose "personally identifiable information" to parents if the student is a legal dependant by IRS rules

• Parents of students at a Roman Catholic high school in Vermont sued the Secretary of Vermont's Agency of Education, arguing that students in private, religious-based schools should be allowed to participate in the state's dual enrollment program
  • Basis of the argument was the first and fourteenth amendments of the United States Constitution, guaranteeing religious freedom and equal protection and liberties.
• The state required schools to be publicly funded to participate since the public foots the bill on these classes, thus exempting all private schools
• District court initially denied a preliminary injunction motion by the plaintiffs, but the injunction was granted by the U.S. Second District Court of Appeals
• The case is still ongoing, but as of today, Vermont private school students are allowed to participate in the state's dual enrollment program
• The Department of Justice also released a statement of interest in 2019 before the injunction was granted that the United States officially supports the plaintiffs in the case, with official statements from the Assistant Attorney General and the U.S. Attorney for Vermont

Department of Justice Files Statement of Interest in Vermont First Amendment Free Exercise Case [Press release]. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/department-justice-files-statement-interest-vermont-first-amendment-free-exercise-case

• Pending bipartisan legislation sitting in committee on both the House and Senate floors
• Bill would authorize a pilot program for expanding Pell grant eligibility to high school students participating in dual enrollment courses
• The program would allow students to use Pell grants to cover the tuition for dual enrollment classes
• Students would be able to earn up to two semesters of college credit, without using any of the 12 allowable semesters eligible after graduation 
• Bill has six democratic and one republican cosponsor on the House bill, and one democratic co-sponsor on the identical Senate bill

• Overarching law that regulates the state of Illinois' Dual Credit Program
• First enacted in 2010, amended with effective dates in 2019, 2021, and 2023
• Primary components
  • Requires assurance from the community college that dual credit courses are equivalent in content, delivery, and rigor to the equivalent course taught at the college
  • Requires annual reviews by the college to maintain consistency
  • Any General Education Core Curriculum coursework must be recognized and transferable to all public institutions in Illinois
  • The Illinois Community College Board is responsible for oversight of dual credit programs between high schools and community colleges; Board of Higher Education is responsible for oversight on all other programs
  • Instructors for general courses must have a master's degree in the content area, or any master's degree with 18 graduate credit hours of coursework in the discipline
  • CTE instructors must have 2,000 hours of work experience and the appropriate credential for the field