Dual Credit

From Policy to Practice

DVR - 03 October 2022

The State Context

Illinois’ Dual Credit Policies

Enhancing School Partnerships

Dual Credit Quality Act (DCQA)

Original DCQA established in January 2010

• To reduce college costs.
• To speed time to degree completion.
• To improve the curriculum for high school students and the alignment of the curriculum with college and workplace expectations.
• To facilitate the transition between high school and college.
• To enhance communication between high schools and colleges.
• To offer opportunities for improving degree attainment for underserved student populations.

Dual Credit Quality Act (DCQA)

Key Components

• Partnership Agreement
• Selection of Courses
• Academic Control; Curriculum; Site Visits
• Minimum Qualifications to Teach
• Student Eligibility
• Model Partnership Agreement
• Professional Development Plans

HB5506

Updated Dual Credit Quality Act (DCQA)

Amendments Effective January 1, 2023

• Mixed Enrollment; Differential Instruction
• CTE Instructor PD Plans
• Notifying Faculty of Partnership Agreement Status

Illinois Community College Board�Systems Rules Manual - Section 1501.313

Rules and Regulations for Community Colleges

• Approval of Instructors
• Qualifications of Students
• Placement Testing and Prerequisites
• Course Offerings
• Course Requirements
• Partnership Agreement

HB3296�Dual Credit Matters Even More

• Signed May 27, 2022
• Implementation of PaCE Framework
• 2027 - 1 Career Pathway Endorsement
• 2029 - 2 Career Pathway Endorsements
• 2031 - 3 Career Pathway Endorsements
• Opt-out provision
• Rulemaking forthcoming

College-Career Pathway Endorsement

• 7 Illinois College & Career Pathways
• Career Pathway Technical Competencies
• Cross Sector Essential Employability Competencies
• Individual Plan
• Professional Learning
• Career-focused Instruction
• Academic Readiness

​

College-Career Pathway Endorsement

Career-focused Instruction

• Must include at least 6 credit hours of early college credit
• Dual Credit courses must be aligned with the Career Pathway (i.e. Welding; Marketing)
• Increased opportunities for transition into post-secondary education/training

​

Questions about state policy?

Starting points for practice

Teacher Credentialing for Dual Credit

Results from the Dual Credit Think Tank

Collective bargaining agreement language

“Up to 100% but not less than $350 per semester hour tuition reimbursement with the percentage determined at the discretion of the District for any coursework which the district requests an employee to complete.”

​

‘Courses must be approved by the district. The coursework can be in content area, administration or bilingual education.’

​

Collective bargaining agreement language

“Courses eligible for reimbursement shall be limited to course directly related the teacher's field of instruction (content/subject matter), obtaining additional teacher or administrative certification, or the District's current staff development plan. (Dual Credit is currently listed in this plan)

​

Reimbursement shall apply to a maximum of 9 credit hours per calendar year and shall apply to tuition costs only. This reimbursement shall not apply to hours taken through a program for which a teacher receives a subsidy from other sources, except when the subsidy is less than the rate designated, the the balance shall be reimbursed by the District.

​

Current rate of reimbursement is 300.00 per credit hour.”

Collective bargaining agreement language

“Teachers advancing to the Master’s column may earn professional growth units derived only from graduate coursework leading to a Master’s Degree in their assigned field.”

​

“Tuition reimbursement only applies to tenured staff members.

Tier I: The tuition reimbursement rate for approved coursework in Tier I shall be $165 per credit hour for a maximum of 9 credit hours per fiscal year. Tier I is defined as Reading, Core Content Area (i.e. English, Mathematics, Social Studies, Science) Industrial Technology, Bilingual Special Education, Early Childhood Special Education, School Counseling and English as a Second Language. Employees in a District-approved Tier I cohort program shall be reimbursed at $165 per credit hour for a maximum of 15 hours per fiscal year.”

Tuition Reimbursements

• …Up to 100% but not less than $350 per semester hour
• …Up to full cost not to exceed a total of $1,250 per fiscal year
• $300 per credit hour
• Tier I - $165 per credit hour�Tier II - $85 per credit hour�Tier III - $70 per credit hour

Practices to support Dual Credit

“We have setup an application process that is available once we identify a new dual credit course that we utilize when we are in need of additional teachers getting certified. We set a number we are looking to support and then review applications. Those that are supported receive tuition reimbursement & salary advancement credit for completed coursework. In our current contract, any coursework beyond a Master's degree is not eligible for tuition reimbursement so getting reimbursement for these courses post-Master's is a big plus/incentive for our teachers.”

Practices to support Dual Credit

“Staff who currently teach a dual enrollment class are given a $200 stipend to teach the class because of additional paperwork involved with the class.”

​

“We have paid for teachers to gain credits to be certified in areas of need.”

Dual Credit Grades

Results from the Dual Credit Think Tank

Caveats

1. We are not promoting traditional grades or GPAs.
2. We are definitely not promoting weighted GPAs.
3. In a world in which school districts utilize weighted GPAs, we felt that this was an instructional policy topic worthy of study.

56 Responses

after data clean-up

Descriptive Statistics of ALL Respondents

• Total number of Illinois HS students represented: 191,623 (31.7% of Illinois HS Students)
• Fewest HS students in a district: 150
• Most HS students in a district: 11,895
• Average (mean) HS students in a district: 3,484

​

Descriptive Statistics of ALL Respondents

* All grade levels

District Type

Survey Question

Overall Survey Responses

Overall Survey Responses

Approximately 52% weight Dual Credit as Advanced/Accelerated

Secondary Districts

Unit Districts

Additional Analysis - Student Factors

• Low income
• IEPs
• Learning English
• Race/Ethnicity

Additional Analysis - Teacher Factors

• Master’s degree
• Retention rate
• Average salary

No relationships emerge across all student & teacher factors

If you have weighted classes, all early college credit coursework should be weighted the same & as advanced/accelerated.

Our recommendation…

Weight early college credit coursework equally

• Teacher credentialing is more rigorous for dual credit coursework
• Dual credit courses have greater opportunities for depth vs breadth
• Dual credit courses are may be more likely to lead to actual transferable college credit
• Elimination of outdated traditional course hierarchies�(e.g., discouraging/downplaying CTE in comparison to other courses)
• Allow all students earning early college credit to equally benefit from such coursework in all ways during HS & postsecondary

Learning from others

Where are you at?

Determining local priorities within the state context

Topics to discuss…

• What is our school district priority area for dual credit now?
• What obstacles are there for our school district to implement dual credit in that priority area now?
• What can we, as a school district, do to overcome these obstacles?
• What can we, as Triton, do to overcome these obstacles?
• What other ideas do we have to improve dual credit locally?
• What supports or resources do we need regionally or from the state to support these dual credit efforts?

Within organizations…

• What is our school district priority area for dual credit now?
• What obstacles are there for our school district to implement dual credit in that priority area now?
• What can we, as a school district, do to overcome these obstacles?
• What can we, as Triton, do to overcome these obstacles?
• What other ideas do we have to improve dual credit locally?
• What supports or resources do we need regionally or from the state to support these dual credit efforts?

Triton with each school district

• What are the school district’s obstacles and their ideas/plans to overcome those?
• What are Triton’s limitations/parameters/concerns/needs and how is Triton addressing these internally?
• What do school districts need from Triton for successful dual credit and to strategically expand dual credit?
• What does Triton need from school districts for successful dual credit and to strategically expand dual credit?

Within organizations

Now what? Next steps…

p20network.niu.edu

twitter.com/p20network

chi.mp/niu.edu/p20newsletter

​