Strengthening Dual Credit in Texas
The UT System is working to ensure that Texas is able to provide high-quality dual credit experiences equitably across the state, supported by good data, policy and practice, and to understand the impact of dual credit programs on our students.
The rapid expansion of dual credit or concurrent enrollment programs in Texas in recent years is sending more students to the state's post-secondary institutions with college credits earned in high school. In removing traditional barriers between high school and college, dual credit represents key points along the student success continuum and works to improve access, affordability, and completion for students across the state.
- The report of the Dual Credit Task Force, Dual Credit: Where College Meets High School (updated as of August 22, 2018), is the work of a statewide task force convened in tandem by The University of Texas System and the Texas Association of Community Colleges (TACC).
- The Task Force was convened to bring together diverse stakeholders to assess the landscape, examine data and develop policy and practice solutions. Its report makes recommendations in three areas: access and equity, funding, and alignment. It also makes a foundational recommendation to create a statewide dual credit advisory committee to provide enhanced coordination, cohesion and communication to better serve students and help achieve the goals of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board's 60x30TX Higher Education Plan.
- Press release: UT System and Texas Association of Community Colleges task force recommends improved coordination, accessibility for dual credit courses
- The University of Texas System Dual Credit Study, conducted by the Office of Institutional Research Analysis (formerly Office of Strategic Initiatives) in collaboration with all 14 UT academic institutions, is among the most comprehensive in the nation. Using a mixed-methods approach - quantitative and qualitative data - UT System studied outcomes for approximately 135,000 students who entered a UT academic institution between 2010 and 2015, tracking the students for six years to determine what impact dual credit has on their success in college. According to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, more than 151,000 Texas high school students took dual credit in 2017 compared to 42,000 in 2000 - an increase of 753 percent. Dual credit and concurrent enrollment programs continue to increase exponentially, not only in Texas, but throughout the U.S.
The full report is posted at https://data.utsystem.edu/sites/default/files/upload/UTSystem-DualCreditStudy.pdf and includes additional findings, as well as a detailed explanation of the methodology.
To continue the national dialogue about dual credit and concurrent enrollment expansion, UT System hosted the Vertex 2018 - Research & Policy Symposium on Concurrent Enrollment & Dual Credit. The symposium convened on October 5-6 in Denver, Colorado.
