The legislative sessions are still underway in most states, and already at least 7 dual enrollment-related bills in 6 states have either been enacted or sent to the governor's desk. This post will look at just a couple of these legislative developments.
Virginia H.B. 1184 has the potential to greatly enhance student access to postsecondary credit opportunities for high school students in the Commonwealth. It requires every local board to develop a local articulation agreement with a community college (and every VCCS community college to develop articulation agreements with the high schools in the area each serves), specifying student options for complete an associate's degree or one-year Uniform Certificate of General Studies at the same time as a high school diploma. The agreement must specify the credit available for dual enrollment courses. The legislation also amends an existing policy requiring student and parental notification of dual enrollment and other early college credit opportunities to include notification of the articulation agreement. And upping the ante just a little bit more, the legislation directs the department of education, in its guidelines for an award under the Virginia Index of Performance incentive program, to consider the number of high school students completing the one-year Uniform Certificate of General Studies or an associate's degree when they graduate from high school.
Oregon H.B. 4014, meanwhile, creates the 14-member Task Force on Accountable Schools, charged with developing a plan to improve school accountability practices. The task force must recommend, among other components, college- and career-readiness measures that assess dual enrollment and advanced course completion. The performance and rating system the task force must develop must include comparisons to similar schools, which would have the potential to truly shine a spotlight on schools encouraging dual enrollment participation, particularly among schools serving large populations of low-income and minority students, who are unfortunately all too often underrepresented in dual enrollment programs. The legislation requires the task force to submit its recommendations for legislation to an interim legislative committee by November 1, 2012, so we'll need to stay tuned in 2013 to see what becomes of this effort.
A March 2012 post looked at enacted New Mexico legislation creating a state fund to help tribal colleges offer dual enrollment. And I'll likely be unpacking additional 2012 enrolled/enacted dual enrollment legislation in a later post, so stay tuned!
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