Graduation Semester and Year
2019
Language
English
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies
Department
Educational Leadership and Policy Studies
First Advisor
W. Bradley Davis
Abstract
Dual credit is a rapidly-expanding coursework option for high school students that provides a means to early college credit and is also touted as a strategy to increase postsecondary readiness. However, existing studies that tie dual credit to college preparation rely upon indicators such as enrollment, achievement, and completion of degrees; they stop short of a full evaluation of readiness by not including the variety of competencies that are necessary for college success. This dissertation presents three studies that seek to explore links between dual credit participation and an established framework for college readiness. The first is a quantitative analysis of grades in college courses after prerequisites were obtained through dual credit or other methods. The second is a qualitative examination of the lived experience of dual credit instructors who work within the high school campus. The final article is a mixed methods case study that explores an innovative dual credit program designed to facilitate an associate degree while students attend a comprehensive high school. Through the three studies, I tie dual credit participation to numerous college readiness proficiencies, and I discuss possible areas of improvement for the consideration of practitioners and areas suggestions for the future work of researchers.
Keywords
Dual credit, College readiness, Embedded dual credit, Follow-on course, Postsecondary readiness, Associate degree
Disciplines
Education | Educational Leadership
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Jones, Rachel Elizabeth, "Dual Credit as a Key to Preparation: Exploring Dual Credit as a College Readiness Strategy" (2019). Educational Leadership & Policy Studies Dissertations. 197.
https://mavmatrix.uta.edu/edleadershippolicy_dissertations/197
Comments
Degree granted by The University of Texas at Arlington