Reynoldsburg school officials said last month that their high school will house a Columbus State regional campus for students and adults this fall. The Hilliard and Olentangy districts also are discussing expanding dual-enrollment opportunities with the community college. Columbus State says it’s talking with other districts as well.
“We believe that every student should have the opportunity to be exposed to college work in high school,” said Steve Estepp, the executive director of curriculum and instruction in Hilliard.
The district has dual-enrollment agreements with four colleges, including Columbus State. Under that partnership, Hilliard students who take advanced foreign-language classes can earn 20 credit hours from Columbus State if they score well enough on the college’s language-placement test.
Columbus State is anticipating more demand for dual-enrollment partnerships over the next three to five years. The college is training professors to align college-level coursework with high-school classes.
“We will move as fast as we can within the context of being certain that the quality and rigor of these courses is equal to ours and those of other institutions,” said Jack Cooley, the senior vice president of academic affairs. “It will play out differently with each school system.”
About 6,850 central Ohio high-school students are taking Columbus State classes at the main campus, the Delaware campus or a satellite site.
Ohio has long allowed high-school students to earn college credit through the state’s Post-Secondary Enrollment Options initiative. But that program typically is arranged by each student, and it requires the students to attend classes on college campuses.
Ron Abrams, the president of the Ohio Association of Community Colleges, said school districts and colleges created more-formal programs in response to a 2008 call by then-Ohio Board of Regents Chancellor Eric Fingerhut to increase enrollment in the state’s public colleges.
In many of those partnerships, colleges either send instructors to a high school or hire high-school teachers to teach college-level work. Those efforts helped students who couldn’t participate in the post-secondary options program.
Experts say students will get more than college credit from a dual-enrollment experience. They are more likely to enroll in a four-year college, earn higher grades and make progress toward a degree, said Sheri Ranis, program director for the Lumina Foundation for Education.
About 800,000 students nationwide are in dual-enrollment programs, according to the foundation.
Under Olentangy’s partnership with Columbus State, students are to take Advanced Placement courses at the college’s Delaware campus and earn college credit for their work. For instance, students who pass an AP English class would get Columbus State credit for two courses: English literature and British literature. The AP class is yearlong, while Columbus State’s courses will be semester-long, starting next school year.
In Reynoldsburg, district leaders plan to integrate Columbus State classes into students’ schedules as early as ninth grade. By doing so, students in the high school’s Bell Academy could end 12th grade with a diploma and an associate degree, paving the way for a job in a technical career or earning credits that would transfer to a four-year university. The academy focuses on business, education, leadership and law.
Columbus State and Reynoldsburg are working out details, including how much students would have to pay for the college classes. The initiative needs the approval of the boards of both schools.