District 225 is implementing a district-wide initiative to expand the number of dual credit courses offered in all academic departments. The dual credit classes will be held in South classrooms and taught by qualified South teachers, so students will not have to travel to Oakton Community College for their class, Math Teacher Bryan Cope said.
Dual credit courses give students credit from both the high school and from Oakton, Cope said. At South, students receive the typical high school credit for taking the dual credit class, but also receive college credit from Oakton Community College, Cope added. Students enrolled in one of these courses have an official transcript from Oakton showing the course, grade, and number of credit hours, Cope added. That college credit can be applied directly at Oakton if the student were to attend Oakton in the future, or they could transfer that credit to a different college or university, Cope explained.
“It is an administrative challenge to do all the things Oakton requires and to make sure that the enrollment is right,” Cope said. “But having the opportunity for a select number of classes that are offered both in college and high school is a neat opportunity.”
Dual credit classes are different from the more popular advanced placement (AP) classes, Cope said. Credit for an AP class is dictated by a student’s score on the AP exam according to a specific university’s guidelines, while a dual credit class directly transfers the student’s actual grade and credit to another university, Cope said. Dual credit students also do not have to take an AP exam at the end of the year, Cope said. However, dual credit is not universally accepted by colleges, each college has its own limit for transfer credits and some are more selective about what classes they take credit for, Cope added.
“Not all universities accept transfer credit,” Cope said. “Typically, state schools and public schools would accept it, but some other private schools don’t.”
The English Department plans to add an Introduction to Fiction course as another dual credit opportunity, David Adamji, English Department Instructional Supervisor, said. Introduction to Fiction will be a semester course, and students will receive both a semester credit for English 4 at South and college credit hours from Oakton Community College, Adamji said.
“A lot of other districts have dual credit classes offered, so it’s good that we’re getting on board,” Adamji said.
The curriculum for dual credit classes has to meet college requirements and are built around Oakton’s syllabus and expectations, Adamji said. There are certain requirements for how much writing, discussion, and reading happens in a class, and the types of essays needed to be completed, Adamji said. However, some freedom is allowed to create the most exciting class for students, Adamji said.
“We want to make sure we are offering courses at the English 4 level that are students are interested in and care about,” Adamji said.
Junior Ayaan Vasaiwala took Multivariable Calculus and Linear Algebra as well as Medical Technology as dual credit classes. The most beneficial aspect for him is that there’s no AP test at the end of the year, but colleges treat the credit the same way, Vasaiwala said. Not having an AP test is also a major perk because it means less studying at the end of the year, Vasaiwala added. South should keep adding dual credit courses so that students can have more opportunities to take classes that they are interested in, Vasaiwala said.
“Dual credit has a lot of interesting courses,” Vasaiwala said. “The more courses that you offer to kids, the better they can really create a schedule that they enjoy coming to school for.”
