Early College Option: Good, Or Bad?

Before the Early College Option came about there were ways a student could get a fast start in college by skipping courses. 

One method of skipping courses was through a placement exam, which is extensively used in mathematics and English.  If a student is proficient in a subject, the student can simply start at the next level.

Similar to the placement exam was a proficiency exam.  The student would request an exam which is equivalent to the final exam in a course, and if the exam is passed the student not only places past the course, but the student is given credit in the course.  This is different from a placement exam, since the student is awarded college credit for the course.  In the placement exam the student still must complete the same number of college hours, so effectively the student replaces a required course with an elective.

Advanced Placement (AP) courses are high school courses taught by a teacher who is also qualified to teach at the college level, and the course is at the rigor of a college course.  This allows a student to get both high school and college credit for the course, subject to a college accepting the course.

Finally, some high school seniors, and a few juniors, have taken enough high school courses as to free up enough time to attend one or two college courses per semester.

All of these are generally reserved for the brightest students, and usually result is just a few, at most, college courses being skipped by any given student.

These are all viable options with positive results.  There is no need to make changes. 

The Early College Option is a program whereby through Advanced Placement courses and college courses the student obtains sixty college hours before completing high school.  The student is given an Associates Degree and becomes a college junior.

All of the college courses are also counted as high school courses, so the student is essentially counting courses twice. 

The student gets a sixty hour start in college.  The degree the student presents is valid, so the universities and colleges often accept it.

Apparently, this is an international effort that was picked up by the United States.  There must be some redeeming factors if done correctly, but my experience is with a program that came into existence in a forced manner and fell somewhat short of expectations.

The student gets a sixty hour start in college.  Universities and colleges do not teach junior and senior courses at the same level as freshman and sophomore courses.  More is demanded of the students.  The demands require more than having passed courses, they require a maturity that comes during the first two years of college. 

Another problem is that every course helps a student gain general knowledge, and hone study skills.  By counting sixty hours twice the student has much less opportunity to hone study skills. 

As an analogy, would anyone take a person who has just learned to drive the month before and allow that person to drive in a NASCAR race?

Another problem is low grades can impact scholarship opportunities, and a low average can prevent the students from transferring to the universities of their choice.

The students who are good enough to get past these hurtles may find a useful program in the concept, but for many others it may be better to avoid the program.

The high school was supposed to recruit the more advanced students at its inception.  Unfortunately, the problem of lack of interest from the community made it necessary to open the recruitment to all, or there would have been too few students to make the practice economical.  Now, it has become expected that the admission be open to all, so even as more advanced students apply to the program they are not necessarily the ones getting into the program.

The high school students take courses with the college students in their final two years.  In the early years they fully populate classrooms, even if the course carries college credit.  So, in their third year they are suddenly placed in classrooms with college students.

I doubt all programs have all of these problems, or the concept would not have been introduced.

Now, high schools are joining the movement to online teaching.  Online courses work for well disciplined students, but how many high school students are at that level of self-discipline?  As high schools add online courses, and in this state we have two fully online high schools, what would happen if they wished to have the Early College Option?  Well, at least one of them has gone to that extent.  Combining the challenges of online and Early College is to place a high demand on the student.  If successful in both aspects, the rewards are great, but failure in either is problematic.

While it seems good on the surface, there are difficulties that must be considered.  So why would anyone send a child to college four years early?  If the Early College Option is housed in a college, and many of the high schools in this area are failing to adequately educate the students, it can be a way for a parent to avoid inferior high schools.

As with many new ideas, there is a valid point to both sides of the issue.  There are good aspects, and there is a danger of bad consequences.

The older methods of getting college credit early are established, and work well.  The real question is will a given student fare better with the Early College Option over other options.  This must be done on a case by case basis.

The introductory image is my own Z

azzle product. 

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