To:
From:
Date:
Re:
Mark Longaker and Lower-Division Curriculum Committee
Linda Ferreira-Buckley
May 22, 2012
DRW Dual Credit Policy
I am glad that you’re working out a DRW policy on dual enrollment this fall. Under state
law, all state postsecondary institutions in Texas must accept dual credit courses. What’s
at issue for the DRW is specifying the conditions under which the department agrees to
affiliate itself with particular programs asking for its endorsement.
Fortunately, CCCC has taken up the issue and has drafted guidelines based on an analysis
of available data and on surveys of members of NCTE, CCCC, and TYCA. (In the
interest of full disclosure, I should say that I’ve been a member of this task force for the
past two years.)
Below is a draft of the CCCC policy, which will be voted on this year. It will provide a
useful starting place for your discussion.
I.
The Course
Curriculum:
DC/CE courses offered to high schools for college credit need to be consistent with those in
the partnering post-secondary institutions in terms of goals, outcomes, syllabi, and
evaluation. Distinctions should be made among secondary “college prep” courses, AP test
prep courses, and postsecondary-level composition courses that include a sequence of skills
and assignments that build in complexity and prepare students for the reading and writing
they will encounter in college.
[The point of the rather confusing second sentence is that a college prep writing course is
not a college course. Only courses teaching college-level writing should count for dual
credit.]
Conditions:
The class size, student-teacher ratio, and number of teacher preps should make possible for
the student (and manageable and non-exploitative for the teacher) the sort of multiple draft,
peer-review, and conferencing process typical of on-campus college writing courses.
II. Preparation and Support of Teachers
Experience:
Secondary teachers charged with college-level instruction should, ideally, have experience
teaching senior and honors English and master’s degrees in English with graduate-level
coursework in composition. Those with master’s degrees in Education should have some
coursework in English, comparable to that of instructors or TAs teaching composition at the
sponsoring postsecondary institution.
Application Process:
As part of teacher selection, there should be an application process with CV, teaching
philosophy statement, and materials vetted by both the DC/CE program administrators and
the postsecondary composition program administrators/faculty.
Training
There should be funds, space, and postsecondary faculty expertise necessary for initial and
follow-up training seminars that introduce secondary teachers to the partnering college
composition curriculum: course goals, assignments, readings, grading, as well as current
theory and practices in the field of composition. In addition, ongoing support mechanisms—
follow-up seminars, regular classroom site visits, review of syllabi and student work—must
address secondary teachers’ strengths, weaknesses, concerns, and ideas as they arise. The
initial training seminars should be equivalent to TA preparation (e.g., a week, or 2-3
weekends), not merely one-day in-service workshops. Financial support should be provided
for training seminars (initial and follow-up), books and materials, graduate credit for the
training course, and, if possible, additional English graduate coursework to insure quality and
incentive.
If site visits or review of materials and student work reveal that a teacher and/or the course in
a particular school is consistently out of step with the curriculum and evaluation practices of
the sponsoring institution, the teacher may be advised into refresher training.
On-campus Faculty Liaisons
Institutions with DC/CE programs must consider the training and support provided by the
postsecondary faculty member to the DC/CE program as part of the faculty member’s
workload, with appropriate reassigned time, supplemental salary, and allowances for high
school site visits.
II.
Students
Particularly if students are eligible to take courses apart from or before they are officially
admitted to the sponsoring college or university, criteria for admission to CE/DC and the
nature and rigor of the college composition course must be explained to students and
parents, and enforced. Postsecondary and secondary instructors, administrators, and
advisors should have a say in who would and would not benefit from taking college writing in
high school.
Assessment
Assessment of student work should be consonant with the assessment practices of the
college composition program. Ideally, high school and college instructors teaching the same
course should participate in norming sessions to assure grading consistency. Sample student
papers or portfolios should be reviewed periodically for consistency in quality across the high
school and on-campus versions of the course.
Successful and unsuccessful student performance in the DC/CE composition course as well
as in subsequent college work and retention, should be documented, compared to oncampus students, and taken into consideration in the expansion and admission processes of
the DC/CE program.