Do you read “Confessions of a Community College Dean” in Inside Higher Ed? If not, I would encourage you to do so. He’s no longer a dean (he’s a VP now), but his insights are always useful and – dare I say – insightful!
Here’s a particularly good column on dual enrollment. While he is writing from the perspective of Brookdale Community College in New Jersey, his insights certainly apply to our own world of dual credit, Career Academies, and Early College High Schools.
Do those of us who teach dual credit see it as “an exciting adventure, or as a foray into social justice work”, as he says? Do we believe that our college classes taught on a high school campus reflect our standards and expectations? Do we include our dual credit faculty fully in the life of our department and the College (whether our own faculty or high school faculty hired to teach our dual credit classes)? Do we celebrate what can be accomplished for our community and our polity when high school students are energized and engaged by the opportunity to complete college-level work?
Dual credit students are our students. Cheers to the good work of our faculty and our Office of College & High School Relations in supporting our students – who happen to still be in high school.