Written by Kimberly Beltran
(Calif.) More avenues to college and career fields would be open to a broader array of high school students under legislation that has moved to the state Senate for consideration.
AB 288 would provide greater flexibility for K-12 and community college districts to establish or expand dual enrollment programs that allow high school students, while working toward graduation, to simultaneously take part in college-level career technical education courses or classes that count for credit toward a degree.
“We have right now existing concurrent enrollment but it’s limited and it doesn’t create partnership agreements that will allow for exploring more options, such as having courses made available that can be taught on a high school campus versus just being offered on a college campus, and the opportunity for college instructors to collaborate with high school teachers on addressing the needs of those students who need remedial support,” said the bill’s author, Democratic Assemblyman Chris Holden of Pasadena.
“This will also give us a chance to grow vocational course opportunities which will hopefully give the kind of access to training and skill development that will prepare young people for a job after high school graduation or to maybe take a vocational focus when they get to college,” he said.
Research on the benefits of concurrent enrollment programs has shown that they increase both high school graduation and college-attendance rates, particularly for minority and low-income students.
Although dual or... https://www.cabinetreport.com/politics-education/a-seamless-pathway-from-high-school-to-college