Academic Performance of Students Dually Enrolled in
High School and College
W. V. Cobitz, Ph.D.
wvy@ncat.edu
NC A&T State University
The Early College Academy is a Guilford County Schools’ initiative that
provides high school seniors with early access to college. Highly
motivated, academically gifted students enroll in one of Guilford County
Schools’ Early College Academies as first year high school students.
During their first three (3) years of high school, they take a rigorous
course load enabling them to complete all requirements for a high school
diploma (except English IV) by the end of their third year of high school.
During their fourth year of high school, Early College Academy students
are eligible to dually enroll in high school and a local college or university.
For the past three (3) years, more than 90% of the students in this program
have chosen North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (NC A&T) in Greensboro as the local college/university to
attend during their senior year. While enrolled at NC A&T,
Early College Academy students are registered as full time (i.e. minimum of 12
credits) special visiting students and enroll in freshman level college courses
with degree seeking students. Both Early College Academy students and
degree seeking students have the same course expectations.
This paper compares the academic performance of the Early College Academy
students for the last two (2) years with the freshman population at NC A&T over the same period. It also identifies the
successes and failures of these students and the resulting implications of
early college access.
Objectives
The objective of the study is to determine if there is
a significant difference between the academic performance of Early College Academy
students during their senior year of high school and the freshman population at
NC A&T State University.
The Early College Academy students are admitted as special visiting students
for the academic year. They must gain admission to the University on
their own merit—by submitting an application, transcript, GPA, SAT scores,
recommendation, etc. The only academic difference between the Early
College Academy students and degree seeking students is the absence of the
final high school transcript for Early College Academy students.
During their senior year, Early College Academy students are dually enrolled in
high school and college. Their classification in college during this year
is special visiting students. Other student classifications—freshman,
sophomore, junior, and senior—are degree seeking students. Early College
Academy students take many of the same courses that freshman college students
take; they are in the same classes with degree seeking students. Early
College Academy students become a part of the fabric of the University during
their senior year of high school.
Is there a significant difference in Early College Academy students’
performance and the traditional degree seeking student’s performance?
What are the implications of these findings on the future of early
college access?
Perspective or theoretical framework
It is widely believed that the blend of high school
and college will motivate students to reach new intellectual challenges.
The Early College Academy of Guilford County Schools puts this belief
into practice. It is thought that the minds of young people who
participate in these programs can be stretched to overcome greater academic
challenges. Furthermore, blending high school and college can save time and
money. By enabling high school students to earn college credits, the time
these students spend as degree seeking students should be shorter, which
equates to less money spent by the parents of these students to fund their
education.
Methods or techniques
Early College Academy students applied to and enrolled at NC A&T
for the 2005-06, 2006-07, and 2007-08 academic years. Each year, new
students were dually enrolled with their high school and the University.
The Early College Academy students were allowed to register for any
freshman level course for which they had the prerequisites, and were encouraged
to select courses that would be useful in their desired college major.
The students were required to maintain a minimum 2.0 GPA, take at least
12 credit hours each semester. Additionally, Early College Academy
students must take an English course during the Fall
semester. The English course— ENGL 100 Ideas and Their Expressions or
UNST 110 Critical Writing—was placed on their high school transcripts in lieu
of English IV.
A template of courses was developed for the most commonly desired majors of
students in the Early College Academy. If students had not been proactive
in determining the courses needed to complete their desired major, the template
was provided. Students developed their class schedule to suite their own
desires, subject to availability. Guilford County Schools, however,
required that the Academy students did not take classes after 4:00 PM.
The performance of these students for each semester was determined by their
semester GPA. These data will be compared with the GPAs of the general
population of freshman during that time.
Data Source
Data were collected each semester for each student by the advisor for the Early
College Academy students. The Office of the Registrar has provided data
on the general population of freshman students during this time frame.
These data will be compared to determine if there is a significant
difference between the performance of Early College Academy students and degree
seeking freshman.
Results and Conclusions
The performance of Early College Academy students does
not significantly differ from degree seeking students. Just as with
degree seeking freshman, some of the Early College Academy students excelled
while taking college courses, some had average performance while taking college
courses, and others struggled while taking college courses. This implies
that academics is only one factor in student success.
Others may include emotional maturity, academic decisiveness, and the
ability to overcome peer pressure. The performance of these students may
have implications on the future of secondary education and post-secondary
education.