With more than 80% of today's jobs requiring at least some postsecondary education or training, attending a college or university for additional education and/or job preparation has, for all intents and purposes, become the primary route into the middle class. Teenagers and their parents are coming to understand this reality, and today somewhere between 70 and 80% of currently enrolled high school students indicate that they intend to go on to college.

Two-year colleges, which have celebrated their 100th anniversary this year, are playing an increasingly significant role in providing access to the education and training that both traditional-age students and returning adults need in order to succeed in today's economy. Policymakers see the community college as pivotal in helping to create seamless P-16 systems (pre-school through baccalaureate education) where every student is able to smoothly and successfully progress through the different levels of education to accomplish their goals.

Education System Disconnects

Education scholars suggest that the U.S. has the most disconnected education pipeline in the world. Primarily because of our traditional emphasis on local control and support of education, high schools, two-year colleges and universities have each developed their own standards and requirements for admissions and/or graduation, usually with little consultation with the receiving institution. Because of separate governance and funding systems between K-12, vocational education, two-year, and four-year colleges and universities, it has been difficult to hold the educational system as a whole responsible for learning that crosses institutions.
An oft-cited example of this disconnect is the high-stakes standards and tests that states have increasingly mandated for secondary students to demonstrate certain skills mastery before being allowed to graduate from high school. These standards and tests however, bear little or no relationship to college admittance tests (typically the SAT or ACT). And the college admittance tests in turn, have little or no relationship to tests that determine the placement of students in college-level general education courses. These disconnects between secondary and postsecondary systems often prevent students from using the senior year to fully prepare for college level work. Instead, many high school seniors take easy classes, cut corners, or work long hours at after-school jobs.

State policymakers have become increasingly frustrated by statistics that indicate that 30% of college freshman require at least one remedial course (NCES, 1996). The Bridge Project at Stanford University estimates that 50% of entering high school seniors do not meet placement-exam standards at the community college level and should not be enrolled in college credit courses. The lack of accountability, unnecessary duplication of effort and/or artificial barriers created by separate requirements have led policymakers to begin to mandate a number of policy initiatives that seek to streamline the educational pipeline and ensure that students are better prepared for postsecondary education.

Dual/Concurrent Enrollment at High Schools and Community Colleges

One example of such an initiative is the growth in postsecondary enrollment option programs being offered to high school students. Enrollment options allow high school students the opportunity to get a head start on their college careers by participation in challenging courses that allow them to earn college credits upon admittance to a postsecondary institution. Dual/concurrent enrollment, Advanced Placement, I.B. (International Baccalaureate), and Tech-Prep programs are all designed to provide high school students the opportunity to take classes that have the rigor of a college curriculum and the potential to receive both high school and college credit.

Dual and concurrent enrollment programs allow high school students to enroll in college-level courses taught at the high school, at their local community college, or on-line via a distance learning provider. Some of the benefits policymakers cite for their increasing interest in creating postsecondary enrollment options include:

• Reducing college tuition costs for students and their families
• Accelerating student progress towards a degree in order to free up space on campus to meet the projected growth of new students coming to college
• Providing greater academic challenge to high school students to help overcome "senioritis"
• Removing the artificial barriers that get in the way of students moving seamlessly between systems by encouraging greater collaboration between high school and college faculty
• Increasing student aspirations to go to college
• Providing greater academic opportunities for students at small rural schools
• Building closer ties between colleges and their communities.

State Policy Approaches to Dual/Concurrent Enrollment

Despite such concerns, policies encouraging dual and concurrent enrollment options are growing dramatically across the nation. Nineteen states have adopted state statutes regarding dual and concurrent enrollment, while an additional 14 have adopted state board policies encouraging the practice. In an additional 14 states, such programs are negotiated at the institutional level between local schools and community college districts. In a survey of postsecondary enrollment options conducted by the Education Commission of the States in 2000, there were only three states where there was no evidence of such agreements.

The state of Minnesota takes credit for being the first state to institute concurrent enrollment policies for high school students in 1985 with the intent "to promote rigorous academic pursuits and provide a variety of options for juniors and seniors in high school by giving them the opportunity to take college courses at state expense." In a study by the Minnesota Legislative Auditor, it was estimated that students and their parents saved an estimated $10.9 million in costs for tuition, fees and books had students enrolled in the same postsecondary courses without the program.

The Running Start program was created by the Washington State Legislature in 1990 to expand educational opportunities for public school students. Running Start allows 11th and 12th graders who pass a test demonstrating that they have the skills needed to succeed at college, to take tuition-free college-level courses at Washington's 33 community and technical colleges. A University of Washington study on Running Start transfer students who later transferred to the University reported that the students graduated with a 3.42 GPA, significantly higher than the 3.14 GPA of students who began their college admission at UW. The Running Start students also graduated at a higher rate than other students.

The state of Utah has encouraged high school participation in dual and concurrent enrollment for many years, partly as a means to accelerate students' educational progress in order to cope with the projected demands for increased access at the state's colleges and universities. In 1999, Governor Michael Leavitt announced a new initiative to award New Century scholarships to any Utah high school students who accelerated their educational progress and completed the requirements for an associate degree prior to September 1st of the year in which they graduated from high school. The New Century scholarship awards the student 75% of actual tuition costs for two years at any of Utah's public or private colleges and universities. The associate degree may be earned by a combination of credits earned through concurrent enrollment, AP and/or summer school attendance.

More recently, a number of states are reporting new initiatives between community colleges and universities to promote dual admission. Community college students who ultimately want to complete a baccalaureate degree are encouraged to simultaneously apply for acceptance to a four-year university and community college which have entered into a partnership. In many of these programs the jointly admitted student receives counseling and/or mentoring by a faculty advisor or admissions counselor from the community college and university, ensuring a guaranteed and smooth transition between the two- and four-year institutions.

Funding for dual and concurrent enrollment comes from a wide mix of sources. Five states require the local school district to pay student tuition costs for dual enrollment classes, while in four others the state automatically picks up tuition costs. In 20 states high school students are responsible for paying their own tuition. Twenty-seven states allow both the K-12 school district and the community college to count the dually enrolled high school student as an FTE (full time equivalent) for purposes of generating state support.

Conclusion

Despite the emerging fiscal crisis in the states, there is no evidence that state policymakers are showing any hesitancy in continuing to promote greater cooperation between secondary, two- and four-year colleges and universities as a means to ensure more seamless education systems.

In light of drastic cutbacks in state revenues and the inevitable reduction in support to higher education that can be expected as a result of the current fiscal crisis, it is more critical than ever that all educational institutions work together to overcome or ease any barrier that may limit the ability of our most at-risk citizens from getting the education or training they need to participate fully in our economy and to access the American dream.

References

AY. Crossland, R. (December, 1999). Running start 1998-1999 annual progress report. Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges.

Education Commission of the States . (2000). Survey on dual & concurrent enrollment. Denver, CO:Author.

Lewis, L., Farris, E., & Greene, B. (Fall, 1995). Remedial education at higher education institutions. NCES 97-584. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics.

Minnesota Office of the Legislative Auditor, "Postsecondary Enrollment Options Program Executive Summary" Minnesota Office of the Legislative Auditor, March 4, 1996.