Print 🖨

The Senate committees on education and higher education heard invited and public testimony regarding and interim charge related to dual credit.

This report is intended to give you an overview and highlight of the discussions on the various topics the committee took up. It is not a verbatim transcript of the hearing, but is based upon what was audible or understandable to the observer and the desire to get details out as quickly as possible with few errors or omissions.

 

Dual Credit: Review dual credit opportunities throughout the state, examining the impact of HB 505 (84th Legislature) on students in particular. Look at the outcomes of statewide studies completed in Texas regarding dual credit, and examine the current rigor of dual credit courses, as well as how to improve advising for students in dual credit.

 

Raymund Paredes, Higher Education Coordinating Board

  • Dual credit has increased since 2000
  • Students need to think strategically about dual credit courses
  • Have had research done to help direct dual credit moving forward
  • Know that dual credit is working, also know that student advising varies widely into inefficient course selections
  • Described dual credit and how it functions
  • Written testimony includes recommendations
    • Require high school students to demonstrate readiness
    • State should provide resources for certain students to take act/sat as prerequisite for dual credit
    • Students be required a dual credit course plan
  • 2007-2017: 90,000 students gone through dual credit courses
  • Biggest challenge: economically disadvantaged student enrollment in dual credit is still very low, has increased in the past few years but still remains low
  • Noted ethnicity gap in enrollment in dual credit
  • Students enrolled in in dual credit have higher 4-year graduation rate – gaps will make a significant difference in achieving 60x30TX plan
  • Attempting to increase interest in increase enrollment in career and technical programs in dual credit
    • Have worked with TEA to promote these courses
  • Have established 18 early college high schools
    • Believes that is lower than it should be and would like to increase that number
  • Need dual credit to be more accessible to vulnerable populations
  • Taylor – do you have statistics on dual credit courses not being accepted by universities?
    • Do not have the data in hand – but know that that is a problem
    • The more college courses that students take in high school the harder transfer becomes
    • There are advisor shortages for dual credit
    • The main problem is not that they do not transfer, it is that they do not count toward the degree
  • Taylor – if the state studies a set number of minimum standards so they will be accepted, what would the mechanism for that study be?
    • Recommend looking at field of study and increasing advising
    • Will be looking at meta majors to help organize courses
  • Bettencourt – 60x30TX – the expansion of dual credit will be necessary for reach those goals, you have expressed concern over rigor, is the Harris County expansion model in line with that rigor?
    • Coordinating board study did not determine if courses were high enough to prepare students to take a range of college courses
    • Study showed that courses were equivalent to college courses
  • Bettencourt – discussed success of early college high schools
    • Study did not include early college high schools because they are not representative of the standard high schools
  • Seliger – a student getting an associate degree shouldn’t be any different in one county versus another, right?
    • Co0rect but it may affect the degree program for a bachelor’s degree
  • Seliger – discussion of accessibility – what are the biggest barriers to accessibility?
    • Adequate preparation
  • Seliger – the system doesn’t work if students are getting college credit for less than college work
    • Agrees, that is why the recommendations include requirement of demonstrating college readiness
  • Menendez – would like to see conversations with students related to college pathways before they get into high school
    • Noted Education Trust’s work with economically disadvantages students
  • West – there was supposed to be an alignment of dual credit courses report due at the end of august, where is that at?
    • Do not have that information
    • Do have data that shows tangible data that dual credit has a positive impact
    • Rex Peoples, Higher Education Coordinating Board – HB 1638 is the bill that required that report on MOUs between ISDs and colleges offering dual credit – are very close to having that finalized
  • West – once it is complete will it require MOUs?
    • Any MOU finalized will have to reflect the recommendation from the report, which are done annually
  • West – what about articulation agreements?
    • Peoples – Believe that it is embedded in one of the goals, but we will pull that out
    • Lily Laux, TEA – do not believe that was part of the legislation
    • The issue with articulation agreements is that they change all the time
  • West – noted that the report was not completed on time – has issues that TEA and Coordinating Board do not appear to be utilizing the authority given to them by previous legislation, are MOUs required for transfer of course credit to individual institutions?
    • It shouldn’t be required
  • West – do you have authority to look at the rigor issue?
    • Yes, we are looking at this issue in stages
    • Started at rigor across platforms, now we are looking at standards that ensure success in overall college career
  • Taylor – not the same discussion was had last week
  • Bettencourt – if you are behind on the report – related to MOUs, should look into Dallas areas early college high schools as an example of very high performing programs. What percentage should be a goal for participation in dual credit and CTE?
    • Not sure that there is a need to set a goal, may want to set a cap or recommended number of courses students should take

 

Lily Laux, Texas Education Agency (TEA)

  • Administrative code requires staffing to meet requirements of those teaching courses at the college
  • Described benefits to students of taking dual credit courses
  • Discussed models of dual credit between ISDs and higher education, like early college high schools
    • There is a subset with industry, like CTE that is also showing very good results
  • Shared success stories of early college high schools
  • There has been strong interest from ISDs in adopting and expanding the models of early college
  • Highlighted Alief ISD Early College High School as a model of success for typically underserved demographics
  • Dual credit costs at the ISD level – do not have a good picture of local spending on dual credit
  • Applicability of credits continues to be an issue
    • Core 42 varies from institution to institution
  • A-F includes dual credit as an indicator
  • Watson – who pays for dual credit and how does it get paid for, and how does disparity affect accessibility?
    • Have seen variables in how the funding is structured – would need additional study on this
    • Have found that costs vary from institution to institution
  • Watson – are we doing enough to get to a clear line of sight on how to do this, and if we don’t will we be stuck in a place that we cannot do this?
    • One component of the study includes the institution is making costs transparent for the student
  • Watson – ultimately, cost will make the difference – do we have sufficient information to address the issue of cost? What do we need to do to get the necessary information?
    • At a minimum there would need to be a comprehensive survey of all of the partnerships for dual credit
  • Watson – the differences in waiving fees at some institutions and not others, why is that happening?
    • Paredes – some institutions are making efforts to expand programs as much as possible, the resources at community colleges vary dramatically from one region to the other
  • Watson – is seems that a student could be a victim of where they live
  • Lucio – how is Texas fairing on the college and career readiness indicator?
    • Jamie Crowe, TEA – we have a college, career, military readiness indicator that look at dual credit, and other criteria, had about 47% of graduates meet one of those indicators
  • Lucio – requested information related to career and technical training
    • Recommended contacting Texas workforce commission
  • West – how does the legislature determine which universities complain the most related to a rigor issue?
    • Paredes – it is a concern more than a specific complaint
  • West – who is saying they have concern regarding that?
    • Does not have that information at this time, the topic has come up in collaborative meetings
  • West – questions if it is a nebulous concept or a specific concern – if it is a general concern it will be difficult to resolve
  • Seliger – regarding advisors – is it TEA that certifies councilors? And do they have the tools they need to help navigate students through dual credit?
    • We know the councilors burden is substantial, and are looking into that piece among many others

 

Ted Holladay, Legislative Budget Board

  • Gave presentation
  • FSP is main vehicle for distributing state aid to school districts
    • There is a formula for dual credit funding
  • Additional funding
    • Rider 46 – $14.6 million Advanced Placement Initiative
    • Rider 49 – $6 million Early College High School
    • Rider 53 – $4 million OnRamps
    • Rider 67 – $ 5 million P-TECH

 

Emily Schmidt, Legislative Budget Board

  • Dual credit funding is included for GAIs and Community Colleges formula funding based on credit hours or contact hours
  • Additional funding includes:
    • UT Austin – $16 million OnRamps programs
    • UT Arlington – $39,299 The Science Education Center and $41,000 MAS program
    • UT El Paso – $.1 million El Paso Collaborative for Academic Excellence
    • UT Rio Grande Valley – $71,700 K-12 Collaboration Initiative
    • Angelo State – $1.5 million Freshman College
    • Lamar University – $.1 million Spindletop Center for Excellence in Teaching Technology
  • Seliger – describe the program at Angelo State?
    • It is a transition program, but do not have specifics on the program
  • West – the OnRamps programs get about $20 million?
    • Correct

 

David Troutman, UT System

  • Discussion with councilors regarding dual credit performance study – turned into a comprehensive study focused on
    • Student participation
    • Student success outcomes
    • Student debt
    • Stakeholder perspective
  • Used a mixed method approach to conduct study
  • Looked at incoming freshman who has dual credit hours
    • had about 4,000 students completed online survey
  • Only looked at students coming from instate
  • About 61% of first-time freshman are coming in with dual credit
  • 50% of students coming with about 18 hours
  • Dual credit students are 2X more likely to be retained, 3X more likely to complete in 4 years when coming in with at least one credit
  • Related to cost saving and debt reduction – did not see significant saving in loan debt between cohorts
  • Noted few differences in GPA between those that took the course in dual credit versus at the campus – means rigor is adequate
  • Students highlighted competitive advantage in applying to colleges and cost savings as benefits to students
  • Seeing a confidence booster for first generation students
  • Taylor – what is the discrepancy in taking less time but nor having an impact on student debt levels?
    • Many times, it was students then wanting to get a minor or additional coursework among other factors
  • Seliger – is there a cost in dual credit?
    • There was a wide variety in cost experiences
    • This is an area that needs additional research
  • Seliger – can we breakdown those numbers by academic institution and why there are not seeing the savings we would expect to see?
    • Will provide that information
  • Watson – it sounds like you were surprised by the debt – would like to drill down on that
    • Goal is to do a degree audit on degree plans to highlight what courses they might be retaking and to better determine why debt levels are not going down
  • Watson – also request that the TEA and Higher Education Coordinating Board help with that information
  • West – related to rigor – faculty is concerned with rigor, yet the research shows the rigor is adequate, do you believe there is a rigor issue?
    • Has not seen issues with performance in upper level courses
    • Recommends going faculty information in the same way parents are given information related to dual credit
  • West – you have not studied the feeder high schools?
    • That is something we would like to look into
  • West – your research is related to the UT system not one campus?
    • That is correct
  • Taylor – questioned what kind of information the faculty received about the student’s dual credit?
    • Believes that information would be with the advisor, not the faculty
  • Bettencourt – where did the debt information come from?
    • Received the financial aid records from the higher education coordinating board
    • This was a high-level view
  • Bettencourt – should be looking at cost it takes to get the degree
  • Menendez – these findings have created recommendations related to communication – what can the legislature do to facilitate that?
  • Seliger – would start by requesting this information be disseminated to Texas institutions of higher education

 

Trey Miller, American Institute for Research

  • focused on recent study on dual credit conducted for the Higher Education coordinating Board
  • Important to note that majority of students do not have access to dual credit
  • Many studies focus on the short-term outcomes of dual credit (high school graduation)
  • 2000-2015 dual credit courses increased 6-fold
    • Not much research on rigor and quality, efficiency and cost of programs during that expansion
  • Research results:
    • Dollar value of benefits are 5X the cost of the courses
    • Did not find evidence of lower rigor in dual credit courses
    • Ethnicity disparities are because of access and preparation
  • Areas for improvement:
    • Typically benefit affluent students – need to work on leveling the field
    • Need sufficient course advising
  • Study focused primarily on community colleges
  • Written testimony showed extent of each type of dual credit within the study
  • More study is needed for more definitive statements on dual credit
  • In process of developing policy recommendations
  • Seliger – are courses as rigorous and who is saying that they are not as rigorous?
    • Findings lend caution o the statements regarding rigor – limited data was used to assess rigor – more needs to be done to assess rigor of all dual credit courses
  • Seliger – did your study apply to early college high schools?
    • The causal impact did not include early college high schools
  • Seliger – why not?
    • There have been studies done on early college high schools have positive impacts, which the study points to
    • At the time of the research early college high schools were a very new and small faction of dual credit programs
  • West – the methodology utilized may not be adequate for coming before this body. Identified recommendations related to academic preparation of certain populations, what is that based on?
    • A causal impact study based on all students in the state
    • Students who take dual credit are because of college success outcomes
    • The study was designed to look at implementation over time of dual credit in high school
  • West – discussed methodology of the study
  • Seliger – related to academically rigorous courses – did it meet adequate measures of rigor?
    • We looked at rigor compared to college only courses and the dual credit courses were as rigorous as college only courses
  • Bettencourt – if the minority participation rates are higher, the study needs to be redone to include that?
    • We could not conduct a randomized study – the study was intended to study dual credit broadly
  • West – was there a conscious effort to not include early college high schools in the impact?
    • The decision was made because we were looking at regular dual credit and the methodology was not able to speak to early college high schools

 

Jacob Fraire, Texas Association of Community Colleges (TACC)

  • Both of these studies show that there is no question of rigor
  • TACC and UT System convened taskforce to discuss all of the issues brought up today – report issued in July
  • Found that issues that are germane to dual credit are as complex as they are for higher education – there are two fundamentally different sects of education coming together
  • Recommends beginning with creating common language to have advisors and councilors on the same page and better work with parents and students
  • Early college high schools are an exceptional model – by design are on a track/pathway from the very beginning
  • Related to funding – there is great variance in funding across institutions
  • Recommends looking at need based grant program for high school students to pay for dual credit – not currently allowed by state or federal statute – PELL grant aid
  • Recommends more CTE courses
  • Recommends requiring students to declare meta major or field of study at the completion of 12 credit hour to force intentional advising
  • Seliger – related to funding, what would be the amount of funding available for those qualified students?
    • Would require about $200 million for all students
  • 11% of high schools are early college high schools which enroll 44% of all dual credit students

 

Robert Riza, Clarendon College

  • Described Clarendon College
  • Have implemented dual credit over the last 5 years
    • Spring of 2014 – headcount 348, today is 739
    • Success rates between 88%-92%
  • Graduation rate of dual credit students is upper 80%
  • Dual credit students finish bachelor’s degree in 4 years or less at 39%
    • 5-year graduation rate is 49%
    • Looking to keep lowering time to completion
  • Related finances – anecdotally saw significant saving from dual credit
  • Agrees that rigor is extremely high
  • Advising is driven by core
  • Works very closely with downstream schools related to transfer
  • Has made efforts to ensure all free and reduced lunch students in high school have dual credit options
  • Online numbers have increased – dual credit students are comfortable with online format
  • Seliger – do all of your CTE courses have certifications, does the student have a certification at the completion?
    • Students do have a certification at the conclusion
  • Taylor – success in online platform highlights the opportunity
  • Bettencourt – related to the welding CTE, do you know what they are making right now?
    • Probably between $50-60,000
  • West – discussed anecdotal costs of dual credit – saved roughly $30,000?
    • That is correct

 

Liz Ozuna, San Antonio ISD

  • Discussed demographics of San Antonio ISD
    • Median income in the district is just over $30,000
  • College and career readiness play a huge role – Valero has partnered on programs toward career and CTE
  • Advisors focus on access
  • Growing the AP program and creating a pipeline to AP courses
  • Creating college pathways in association with UT system
  • Most dual credit students attend on the UTSA campus
  • SAISD offers multiple OnRamps courses
  • Teaching courses on SAISD campus is a cost savings, working on programs to develop teachers
  • Students get a benefit from taking courses on college campuses
  • Goal of getting each student to take at least one dual credit course
  • Students that complete associate degrees tend to stay and g to college in Texas
  • Working on partnerships for preferential scholarships
  • Seliger – how do you address access for minorities and low-income students?
    • It has been a priority to make those courses available

 

Israel Cordero, Dallas ISD

  • Are working toward 60X30TX plan
  • Have looked at 6-year completion rate – need to do a much better job
  • 3 years ago, DISD has 3 early college high schools
    • Now at 23 early colleges high schools
    • 20 of them are inside of a comprehensive high school
  • Have created partnerships with industry through P-TECH
  • Creating pathways to bachelor’s degrees through early college and P-TECH programs
  • 90% retention rate
  • In two years – 25% of DISD high school students will be dual enrolled
  • Highlighted American Airlines partnership, IBM partnership working fulltime in DISD for mentoring
  • Described a specific student experience
  • Seliger – do you have active internships for P-TECHs?
    • There are internship opportunities through industry partners
  • Taylor – requested information on Blanton Elementary
    • Described Blanton Elementary school – was on IR and ACE turnaround model and is now a high performing school
  • West – is financial aid still an issue for students going to college?
    • The tuition is completely scholarship to go to local community colleges
  • West – requested information regarding the Dallas County Promise
    • Described Dallas County Promise
    • If a student pledges to fill out FASFA and applies to community college, they get three years at a community college to get associate degree on scholarship, with university partners that offer bachelor’s degree to those students at no charge
  • West – there was over 90% completion of FASFAs?
    • That is correct
  • Lucio – in designing this model, how were the at-risk kids treated?
    • The model continues the support for those students into their post high school career
  • Lucio – No one is reaching out to students to keep them from dropping out. There are plenty of students who have potential.
  • West – It would be great if schools can tell us exactly how much the collaboration costs. Economists within the community college can tell us what the savings are for the state.

 

Kai Bouchard, Pearland ISD

  • Gave background on launch Turner High School
  • Our dual-credit courses are available to all students
  • Our relationship with Alvin Community College (ACC) allows us to offer these courses
  • ACC sends an advisor to our campus to guide dual-credit students
  • Our students pay roughly 10x less for an associate degree than they would at a public university
  • Our students tested for over 40 industry credentials last year
  • The Northern Brazoria County Education Alliance
  • Taylor – Do you offer scholarship opportunities?
    • We raise scholarships through community partners
    • Last year we raised around $100,000 for student scholarships
  • Taylor – How many slots do you have at your campus?
    • 1200 students
  • Taylor – You have more applicants than slots?
    • Yes
  • Taylor – Some of your students go to other schools for electives?
    • Yes, they can travel to other campuses for outside activities like sports
    • We have about 500 students that travel between campuses

 

Lonnie Howard, Lamar Institute of Technology

  • 2-year college located in Beaumont
  • 6,714 students
  • Has highest median salaries of student 10 years after graduation
  • Austin Innovative center is P-TECH program similar to Dallas ISD model
  • Strong industry ties are linked to high livable salaries, the jobs created lead to economic development and higher standard of living
  • clusters of industry ties
    • Advanced technology and Manufacturing
    • Aerospace and defense
    • Biotechnology
    • Life Sciences
    • Energy
    • Information computer technology
    • Petroleum Refining and chemical products
  • These programs are linked to high-end jobs
  • industry partners seek to provide career and internship opportunities for our students
  • Because our students are from lower economic backgrounds, these academies represent opportunity to them
  • Challenge is in scalability and sustainability for innovative programs like this
  • Has four Industry partners – partners have taken a hands-on approach
  • The academy leads to great opportunity for the students to end the cycle of poverty within their families and community
  • Taylor – You reminded me that we’re not just talking about the students, but the family that follows them
    • During our recruiting sessions we also try to get the parents involved

 

Steve Head, Lone Star College

  • Dual credits have higher success rates but have higher equity gaps
  • Our measure of success is GPA when the student transfers
  • 9th-10th graders make the decision to take dual credit on their parent’s judgement
  • We maintain the same standards for dual credit
  • Seliger – Do you offer any courses that do not fit 60x30TX Plan?
    • No
  • Bettencourt – What is a livable salary for a welder?
    • $60-70k
  • Bettencourt – I will have a bill to expand this dual credit system statewide next session

 

Mike Maroney, Texas Association of Manufacturers

  • There are many manufacturing jobs in Texas not being filled
  • There is a big opportunity for associate degrees to be gained in high school
  • CTE dual credit and academic dual credit are different, they should not be conflated
  • Employers see the best success when the workforce and education work together
  • HB 18 from 2015 led to Texas OnCourse, we are excited about what that will bring

 

Daniel King, Pharr-San Juan-Alamo ISD

  • All our dual credit counselors are trained in college advising
  • Each high school has a financial aid advisor to take the load off of counselors
  • The college transition specialist really digs in during the student’s senior year and continues to work with them in their first years of college
  • We have a data sharing agreement with South Texas College
  • In 2017, 70% of our graduating students had college hours
  • Seliger – If 70% of your students have college hours, what is your dropout rate?
    • 2%
  • Seliger – What is the state average?
    • 6%
  • Seliger – That is phenomenal
  • West – Has there been any discussion concerning rigor?
    • Yes, local studies show that when our student go to university they outperform those that have not gone through the program.
  • West – What universities do your students go to?
    • The primary school is UT Rio Grande Valley and there are plenty others
    • We have a student who got her PhD at age 23, and there are plenty of stories like hers
    • The questions of rigor are natural

 

Melanie Storey, The College Board

  • Options to earn college credit early have expanded largely
  • There are 4 primary pillars of a strong dual credit program
    • Quality of education
    • Value for time and dollars invested
    • Equity and access
    • Transparency around credit transfer
  • We have made tremendous efforts toward equity and access
  • AP potential allows us to identify students that would perform well in AP programs
  • We have a partnership with Khan Academy to help students advance their skills
  • Students that enroll in AP and dual credit experience the largest gains in post-secondary success
  • Access to AP is unevenly distributed across the state
    • We encourage access grants

 

Letty Adams, San Antonio College

  • Advisor-student relationship is a critical component of student success
  • Gave story of student who received advising concerning her early college program and was able to succeed following the development of a plan for her success
  • Created specialized course withdraw form
    • Uses 3 step process to ensure that it is the best option for the student
  • Created course cards to ensure that students are following an appropriate degree plan

 

Jennifer Cavazos-Sines, OnRamps – UT Austin

  • Designed to increase diversity
  • Through grants are able to increase impact through engaging more schools
  • The model is different from AP and dual credit
    • Is a dual enrollment which offers two separate courses
    • Leads to two separate grades high school/college
  • Ensure students are held to the same standard as full-time college students
  • Uses network-based approach allowing it to change and improve through feedback, recommendations and best practices
  • Large area of focus is teacher development and quality
  • Network partnerships all levels lead to innovations that can be spread throughout the network
  • Described specific student experience
  • Since 2013, over 11,000 students have earned college credit through OnRamps
  • Advisors have additional tools through OnRamps
  • Seliger – do you find that courses taught by college educators is superior to high school educators teaching college courses?
    • Quality begins with partnership between the teachers to create level of expectation and strategies
  • Taylor – they are taking two courses at once?
    • The student is taking the course at the high school with digital interaction from the college professor
    • It is the same course that is delivered at the college campus
  • Taylor – it is essentially dual instruction?
    • Correct
  • Taylor – these are not dual credit?
    • No, the benefit is the experience and college preparation
  • Taylor – so the local school has to offer the course?
    • Correct

 

Public Testimony

 

John Kelsoe, Self

  • Supported tools for advisors to help better direct students in appropriate direction, post-secondary degree or not
  • Have to be able to advise on career if not going to college