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WHAT IS DUAL ENROLLMENT?

Dual enrollment is one option for students under Competent Private Instruction (CPI) to:

access classes
participate in extracurricular activities offered by the district
obtain special education programs or services required by an IEP (Individualized Education Program), including Speech Therapy.

HERE is a link to the Iowa Department of Education’s most updated Private Instruction Handbook. Pages 14-19 contain a Q&A section specific to Dual Enrollment and HSAPs.

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WHY DO I NEED TO START THINKING ABOUT NEXT YEAR’S ENROLLMENT NOW?

We share your decision with the ACSD Enrollment Specialist and all relevant buildings in the district. The names of dual-enrolled students are seen by principals, administrative assistants, and counselors and are then routed to appropriate district staff. Having your child’s name listed for specific dual enrollment requests for the next school year allows the district to include your child in the planning that takes place as early as this winter.

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K-5TH

Dual enrollment is requested for specific subjects and not for times of day. Each elementary building finalizes its schedule just before classes begin in August, therefore, it’s not possible until then to know if multiple classes are held consecutively.
A dual-enrolled student may take a maximum of four courses in the public classroom.

Literacy/Language Arts counts as two courses.
Math counts as one course.
Science and social studies combined count as one course.
Related arts (art, PE, music, media) combined count as one course.

In order to participate in the Extended Learning Program (Talented & Gifted) in a school building, the correlating subject must be taken in the classroom through dual enrollment. ELP Services are offered beginning in 4th grade, and the student must re-qualify each year.
In order to participate in the Alternative Learning Program or receive an intervention (i.e. Success Reading) in a school building, the correlating subject must be taken in the classroom.

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K-5TH

Orchestra begins in grade 4. If you have questions, please contact:

jotham.polashek@ames.k12.ia.us (Meeker, Fellows, Sawyer)
jennifer.dishman@ames.k12.ia.us (Edwards, Mitchell)�

Band begins in grade 5. If you have questions, please contact:

tascha.hauber@ames.k12.ia.us

cheryl.todey@ames.k12.ia.us

For additional information about days and times for music ensembles (orchestra, band, and chorus), click THIS link.

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6TH-8TH

A 6th-8th dual-enrolled student may take a maximum of six periods per day. (WIN period for music lessons once a week does not count; classes that meet every-other-day count as 0.5 period).�
Dual-enrollment for academics includes any classes offered during the school day (math, literacy, science, social studies, or electives such as art, band, etc.). �
Dual-enrollment for extra-curricular activities includes any sports or clubs that meet outside of the school day. �
In order to participate in ALP (Alternate Learning Program) or ELP (Extended Learning Program) or receive an intervention in a school building, the correlating subject must be taken in the classroom.

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6TH-8TH continued

Math Acceleration at AMS
Bell Schedule
For the 2025/2026 school year, band/orchestra/choir are scheduled as follows:

6th grade - 3rd period + band/orchestra lesson 5th period
7th grade - 2nd period + band/orchestra lesson 6th period
8th grade - 1st period + band/orchestra lesson 7th period

Some ensembles will combine A & B sections for performances while others will not. If ensembles do not combine, alternate rehearsals cannot be attended. Families should plan to be flexible.

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6TH-8TH continued

If you suspect a student will dual enroll at AHS and will need a 504 for accommodations, consider dual enrollment at AMS to get a 504 in place before the end of 8th grade.

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9TH-12TH

A 9th-12th dual-enrolled student may take a maximum of six courses. This includes Senior Year Plus (SYP) programming completed at AHS, DMACC, ISU, and/or other Iowa state regent colleges under SYP (read more about SYP here). Keep in mind that special education or sports/extracurricular activities do not count towards the 6 allowed courses.

Senior Year Plus Programming includes participation in concurrent enrollment (dual enrollment at the community college level) and Post- Secondary Enrollment options (dual enrollment at the university level).

9th-12th grade students may participate in concurrent enrollment so long as course prerequisites are met.
11th-12th grade students and 9th-10th ELP students are able to enroll in PSEO.
This is the list of approved contracted concurrent enrollment courses which can be taken at DMACC.
If there is a course not on the approved contracted DMACC list, as long as there isn’t a comparable course offering at AHS, then a student may take the course at ISU through PSEO.

When completing Form A, please be as specific as possible in listing desired classes or extracurricular activities; this includes looking ahead to activities that take place 2nd semester only. Those also must be indicated by Sept. 15.

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MORE 9TH-12TH CONSIDERATIONS

The bell schedule for AHS can be found here. It is an alternating block schedule with all 8 periods observed on Mondays and longer block periods on Tu-Fri with Tuesdays/Thursdays being the same periods (1,3,5,7) and Wednesdays/Fridays being the same periods (2,4,6,8).

Counselors will do their best to accommodate your student’s schedule requests, i.e., if your student has a Tuesday conflict, then they will do their best to accommodate an EVEN schedule so that your student does not have a schedule with periods 1,3,5,7.

Music periods at AHS

Science offerings at AHS follow a non-traditional approach so that students are exposed to a wider array of science subjects earlier in their high school years and therefore have more freedom to further explore a certain branch of science later during their high school years.