Dual Credits

Dual credit is the term given to courses in which high school students have the opportunity to earn both high school and college credits simultaneously. Dual Credit courses can be taken at your high school, at a college campus, or through online courses. Dual Credit courses can be taught by credentialed high school teachers or college faculty and is offered by both state and independent (private, regionally accredited) colleges and universities.

BRIEF SUMMARY

Dual credit is the term given to courses in which high school students have the opportunity to earn both high school and college credits simultaneously. Dual Credit courses can be taken at your high school, at a college campus, or through online courses. Dual Credit courses can be taught by credentialed high school teachers or college faculty and is offered by both state and independent (private, regionally accredited) colleges and universities. You can find information from the IDOE HERE.

KEY POINTS

RESOURCES

SHARED WISDOM

  • Q: (CounselorTalk, December 2022) Does anyone have a letter they give to parents explaining the Ivy Tech dual credit process that possibly includes the registration process, Knowledge Assessment, drop/withdrawal information, etc?
  • Students wishing to earn either the Indiana diploma with academic and/or technical honors designation may use dual credit as one of several options to complete the requirements. Dual credit courses that may be used for a diploma with academic or technical honors designation are indicated on the State Approved High School Course Titles Summary, published on the IDOE’s Course Titles and Descriptions web page (also shared in “Resources” below). Any course on that list marked with an ‘X’ in the Dual Credit column has been approved to count for dual credit reporting for A-F Accountability and for BOTH diplomas with academic and technical honors designations if the student is enrolled in a college courses and earns transcipted college credits. To meet the dual credit option for the Indiana Diploma with Technical Honors designation, “pathway dual credits from the approved dual credit list resulting in 6 transcripted college credits” would need to be in a state approved college and career pathway.  From the Dual Credit FAQ
  • Q: What courses may be used to meet dual credit options for the Indiana Diploma with Academic or Technical Honors designation?
    • A: For the Technical Honors Diploma, dual credits must come from a state approved Career and Technical Education Pathway. Any course marked with an ‘X’ in the dual credit column on the State Approved High School Course Titles Summary document may be used to meet the dual credit options for either diploma with honors designation if the student is enrolled in a college course and earns transcripted college credits.  From the Dual Credit FAQ
  • Q: I am wondering if any of you use a dual credit/ dual enrollment partner that offers courses online and at an affordable rate. Since we are a virtual school the courses must be available 100% online for it to work for us.
    • A: Trine University has been great to work with.
    • A: Ball State also has a large selection of online classes.
  • Q: Do you mark year-long dual credit courses as dual credit for both semesters, or do you mark them as dual credit for the 2nd semester only? we use Harmony, and that causes year-long courses to show up twice in the dual credit portion of the transcript which makes it appear they’ve earned 6 college credits instead of 3, for example.
    • A:
      12 of the respondents said that they mark year-long dual credit courses (worth 3 college credits) for the 2nd semester only.
      1 said that she marks both semesters.
      1 said that she indicates “yes” (for dual credit) for both semesters but only enters the college course number, credits, etc. for 2nd semester.  (I don’t think this is an option in Harmony.) When I contacted Harmony about this previously, I was told that it’s a “local decision” but that most schools report it at the end of the year, and then it appears on the CC report for 2nd semester only.
  • List of dual credit courses that count for the honors diploma: Indiana High School Course Titles Summary   https://www.doe.in.gov/standards/course-titles-and-descriptions
  • Online dual credit providers (from Counselor Talk, July 2018):

Indiana Online:  https://indianaonlineacademy.org

Ball State University:  https://www.bsu.edu/academics/collegesanddepartments/dual-credit

The Indiana Academy for Science, Mathematics, and Humanities: https://academy.bsu.edu/

Indiana iCAP: https://www.doe.in.gov/icap/courselisting

Vincennes University: http://my.vinu.edu/dual-credit

Ivy Tech Community College

  • Q: I wanted to see how other schools indicated that a dual credit was EARNED on a transcript:  Dual Credit Counselor Talk Responses June 2018
  • When a class is dual credit and AP, the student usually earns the same credit–either through dual credit or the AP exam.  For example with AP Psychology that is also dual credit, the student is earning PSYC 101 through dual credit.  If they also take the AP exam and score a 3 or higher, most colleges will award the same 3 college credits for this course.  So in this case there is very little incentive to take the AP exam, if the student is already earning the dual credit.However there are some benefits to keeping both the AP and the dual credit designations on your classes.  In cases where the student does not register for dual credit due to a lack of prerequisites, that student could potentially still earn credit based on their AP exam score.  Also, transfer of dual credit is not guaranteed at private or out of state colleges.  Having an AP exam score as a backup could be beneficial.  Another advantage of allowing students to take AP exams while also earning dual credit is the possibility of earning more than 3 college credits for a very high AP exam score.In general dual credit courses are more beneficial because if students do well in the course, they will automatically earn college credit, instead of having to depend on the results of an AP exam.  But with a class that is both dual credit and AP,  you have the best of both options!
  • Another issue with the dual credit classes is how difficult it has become to get teachers approved to teach dual credit.  With no incentive to get a master’s degree or take even extra course work we don’t have teachers who are qualified.
  • Indiana State University offers support to teachers who want to be certified to teach dual credit; see flyer
  • Dual Credit Responses-counselortalk 2017

 

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