How To Get More Control Over Your Dual Credit Program

by Carrie Watkins | Jan 11, 2022 | The Future of Education

The decision to offer dual credit is easy. Making time to understand the program and manage it may not be. Some programs have strict parameters that might not fit well for your school or may require more oversight than you and your team have the bandwidth for.

As you look for ways to help your students succeed in high school and beyond, you need a dual credit program that gives you more control over the details so you and your students have the best experience possible.

Control Over The Academic Calendar

When you create your calendar, you think of your students, your faculty, and what else is happening in the world. With your academic calendar so personalized to your school, why should your dual credit students have to juggle a different calendar? Work with a dual credit provider that gives you control over your term start and end dates. It’s a better experience for you and your students.

Control Over Student Progress Reporting

We know students do better at all levels when they have support. And because dual credit courses are usually a high school student’s first experience with college-level learning, sometimes it helps to check in on their progress. Look for a dual credit program that gives you different levels of reporting where you can choose who has access.

At TEL, we have the facilitator/instructor role to see the course as the student sees it. This role is great for faculty who are serving as facilitators so they can help students understand specific passages and instructions. The facilitator role can see the student’s progress and grades in that specific course.

We also have the site manager role for those who want a larger view of student progress across the program. The site manager sees how students are progressing across all courses and is great for a school administrator or counselor who is overseeing the dual credit program.

Control Over How Students Pay for Dual Credit

College tuition is expensive, which is one of the reasons why earning college credit in high school is so popular – it’s much cheaper. And some states offer subsidies that make it free, or close to it (watch out for fees and textbook costs), if your students meet certain requirements. But for many students, especially those outside of the traditional public school environment or who don’t meet the criteria, there is still a cost to earn college credit through dual enrollment. While you wear many hats at your school, no one enjoys tracking down students for money.

With TEL, we have several options to make enrolling in courses as simple as possible. You can handle the payment, which is great when you get a subsidy, and then pay for the courses your students use with that subsidy. We can also facilitate students paying for the course. And while students have always been able to purchase courses through our Courses on Demand page, it did have its limitations. Students might not choose the course you want them to or they might select a different credit-granting partner.

Starting this spring, that changes. We are launching our shop sites, which enable your school to have a specific URL to give your students so they can purchase from the courses and credit-granting partner you select. We handle the payment at the time the student enrolls and you can view your roster throughout the enrollment period. If you are interested in a shop site, talk to your account manager or send us a note through our contact form about getting one set up for you.

Control Over The Dual Credit Courses You Offer

Our course catalog is stable. You can count on the courses you want to offer your students being available every term, no matter how many students enroll. With no course minimums, students can take the course if there are one or 51 students enrolled.

The only time we might take a course offline temporarily is when we have significant updates to make. But we will always give you at least a semester’s notice and can usually provide a work-around if it’s important for your students to take the course at that time.

Control Over How You Deliver The Dual Credit Course

Schools have been forced to try new delivery models over the past two years. Some models worked and some probably didn’t. Whether you are an all-virtual school or enjoy in-person classes, your dual credit program should work with the delivery model that you know works best for your students.

One of our partners, All Saints Episcopal School in Tyler, TX, used TEL to help them launch a blended learning program. Their goal is that every student graduates with at least one online course as a way to prepare them for online college and career work they might encounter in the future. With an on-staff facilitator, students meet together to take their online dual credit courses from TEL. Check out our case study on All Saints to learn more about their program.

A Dual Credit Program That Fits Your School

Dual credit programs are becoming vital for high schools that want to prepare their students for success after graduation. Instead of making your team and your students conform to someone else’s program, find one that aligns with what you know works best for your school. If you are ready to do dual credit differently, reach out to us for a conversation.

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