Round Rock ISD students at the District’s five comprehensive high schools earned a record breaking total of 2,325 college credit hours during fall 2016 dual credit courses — the equivalent of $1.9 million in tuition at Austin Community College (ACC).
Across the high schools, 556 students registered and completed 774 dual credit courses, all available to transfer to a higher education institution.
“The dual credit experience provides the ideal opportunity for students to earn college credit as they engage in rigorous learning in an authentic college environment,” said Michelle Swain, director of gifted and advanced academic services. “We are so proud of the students who have successfully embraced the concept and saved thousands of dollars in tuition in the process.”
Dual credit students have the option to participate in the cohort model, which offers students an opportunity to take two dual credit courses per semester as part of a designate humanities sequence. A second option for students is to take “a-la-carte” classes either offered at their campus or at an ACC campus during an off period. Students are also able to take dual credit courses during the summer at any ACC campus.
Round Rock High School Junior Annie Dixon has earned six hours of credit through the dual credit cohort model. History and English courses, taught by a college-level professor, were held at Round Rock and exposed the class to best practices in a college classroom.
“Dual credit classes are nice because they show you how college will work,” Annie said. “My professor, in particular, gave us different formats of test taking we would experience in college, so it really prepared us for what to expect in the future.”
Round Rock Junior Blair Bible completed an English dual language course, along with Advanced Placement (AP) U.S. History. While Blair has earned college credit through AP courses, she said she personally benefits more from the sustained learning and testing of dual credit courses.
“I like dual credit better because it’s less stressful,” Bible said. “We earn our credits based on the work we do all year rather than one test.”
