With many students left unknowledgeable regarding dual enrollment, we asked Patrice Maites and Bobby Collins, the 11th-grade counselors, our burning questions.
What grades can enroll?
M: 9-12. But, we’re not fond of putting a 14 or 15-year-old on a college campus.
C: Parents should not be fond of it either. When you’re a 9th grader, you’re just trying to get used to high school and cognitively you’re not aware of your surroundings here, and to go onto a college campus with 19 to 40 year olds [is challenging].
How do I apply?
M: The dual enrollment program comes up on the school website, and there are links to allow families to review it.
Note: the first step is to prepare your transcript, counselor and teacher recommendation forms, the release of information form, and an essay.
How do they count for high school credit?
M: If a student wants to get credit for high school, they have to request that through DCPS’s main office. A document has to be filled out, it’s sent in, and it depends on the course they are taking, it has to be an approved course for high school credit.
How do they affect my GPA?
M: On the bottom of your high school transcript, it says dual enrollment course plus one point, and colleges can see that.
How are classes scheduled around them?
M: Students are responsible for going to all their classes at Jackson-Reed first, and when they finish their day they may then go and enroll in a dual enrollment class at a college, generally after 4 pm.
Note: time is not taken out of the high school day, but if a student is a senior and has free periods when classes take place, they can leave earlier.
How can the dual enrollment process be better advertised to students?
C: There should be a process where we identify students who actually want to take dual enrollment, and then have an assembly where we actually explain the process to students and parents. And then, go through a process of what it looks like, what are the student’s obligations, what are our roles, and how we plan to move along in the process.
