For some students, spending the high school years just waiting to get to college doesn’t happen — and for good reason.  These students are spending their high school years doing the work of college.  They are enrolled in an Early College High School.

Early College High School is not the same thing as Dual Enrollment.  In a dual enrollment program, students attend a traditional high school and take one or two college classes at the same time.  In an Early College High School, some strictly high school classes are replaced by college classes — for all students in the school.  So Early College High School is an institutional, rather than an individual, program.  The program provides an opportunity for students to receive a high school diploma at the same time that they receive college credit, or even an associates degree — tuition free.

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As July approaches each year, many high school students eagerly await the release of Advanced Placement scores.  These scores may determine whether students will receive college credit or have the option of being placed in advanced, upper level college courses.  If you have a high school student, you may be wondering whether your student should be taking Advanced Placement, or AP courses.  If you have a student about to enter college, you may even wonder whether your student missed an important opportunity.  The short answer is, it depends . . .

Advanced Placement, or AP, courses allow students to participate in college level classes as part of their high school curriculum.  Most students who take an AP course then take the national exam for that course at the end of the year.  Students who receive a score that is high enough may receive college credit and may be exempted from taking certain introductory level classes. More than 2600 colleges in 100 countries grant credit for AP work.  31% of schools consider AP scores as they award scholarships.  AP courses and exams are offered in over 30 subjects.

What are the advantages of taking on the harder work of an AP class?

There are several advantages to taking AP classes:

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Is your student college ready?  The answer may not be what you think.  If your student has done reasonably well in high school and has high school diploma in hand, you may assume that your student is now ready for college.  Unfortunately, in most cases this may not be true.

According to a recent study conducted by the National Center for Public Policy in Higher Education, an independent, non-profit, non-partisan organization, ”Every year in the United States, nearly 60% of first-year college students discover that, despite being fully eligible to attend college, they are not ready for postsecondary studies. After enrolling, these students learn that they must take remedial courses in English or mathematics, which do not earn college credits.”  Even those students enrolled in a college preparatory curriculum may not be as ready as they should be.

According to another report, released by Achieve, Inc., students who require remedial courses in college graduate at half of the rate of their college ready peers.  Many students who do graduate need extra time to complete their degree.

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