Standards for successful dual enrollment initiatives

To gain NACEP certification, a college or university has to adhere to more than a dozen standards

The National Alliance of Concurrent Enrollment Partnerships (NACEP) defines concurrent enrollment—a subset of the dual-enrollment approach—as providing college-credit-bearing courses taught to high school students exclusively by college-approved high school teachers.

The NACEP program also requires that high school teachers and college faculty collaborate on aligning the secondary and postsecondary curriculums.

To gain NACEP certification, a college or university has to adhere to more than a dozen standards pertaining to curriculum, faculty readiness and student assessment. Many of those standards, including those listed below, could serve as best practices for any dual-enrollment program, regardless of who is teaching the courses.

  • Classes are college/university catalogued courses, with the same departmental designations, course descriptions, numbers, titles and credits.
  • Faculty site visits ensure that college/university courses offered to high school students are the same as the courses offered on campus.
  • Students are held to the same standards of achievement as are students in on-campus courses.
  • The college/university ensures that campus grading standards are used in the concurrent enrollment programs.
  • The students are assessed using the same methods (papers, portfolios, quizzes, labs, etc.) as are on-campus students.

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