More than 200 people attended 11-5-16 statewide conference on Helping More High School Students Earn Free College Credit. Several follow up steps are being taken

Nov 5 conference: Helping More High School Students Earn Free College Credit

Dual credit programs allow students to earn college credit while still in high school. It’s a great way for students to challenge themselves, be better prepared for some form of post-secondary education, and save time and money. Some dual credit courses are offered in high schools, some on line and some on college campuses.

On November 5, 2016, more than 200 people met at Wilder Foundation to learn more about these programs and help develop plans to ensure more Minnesota students, especially low income and students of color, participate successfully in one or more of these programs.

A number of next steps were suggested by conference participants.  These include:

  • Providing more information to families through community organizations and news media
  • Modifying state laws to help more high schools offer dual credit courses
  • Equalizing “weighting” for all dual credit courses so participation in some courses is not discouraged.
  • Create new “College in the Schools” courses involving the Hmong language.

On a 1-10 scale with 10 being “extremely useful”, participants ranked the conference as 8.5.   Conference costs were covered by the Carlson Family Foundation, Generation Next, Wilder Foundation and the Holman Fund at the St. Paul Foundation.

Who attended?

  • Middle and high school students, parents and grandparents who want to learn more about the benefits of dual credit
  • Educators who wanted to learn more and think about how to increase participation
  • Community leaders who wanted the information and tools to help get the word out
  • Advocates who want to discuss how recent policy changes will impact the future of dual credit

 

See the PDF flier and click here to register.