Success of College Readiness Program at LSU

Dual Enrollment (DE) offered at LSU through the College Readiness Program allows high school students the opportunity to enroll in college courses and receive credit on both their high school and college transcripts simultaneously without ever leaving their high school campuses.

The DE program has seen enormous growth since it began in 2006 with three high schools and two math courses. Today, the program has expanded to include 33 courses in 14 disciplines including math, English, French, Spanish, chemistry, biology, art, geography, kinesiology, environmental science, engineering, digital media, computer science and history. This fall semester there are 1,471 high school students from 35 high schools in 18 different cities in Louisiana enrolled in an LSU DE course. Moreover, at least 2,500 additional high school students are taking the same courses, but for high school credit only. Similar enrollment numbers are expected for the upcoming spring semester.

“This program has seen much success over the last eleven years.  Of the 1,004 students dually enrolled in Fall 2015, 94 percent earned a grade of A, B, or C. As a result, the participating high schools are beginning to send more and better prepared students to LSU than they did in the past. Without any doubt, the College Readiness Program provides a winning proposition to all involved,” according to Dr. Frank Neubrander, Cain Center Director and Alumni Professor of Mathematics.

Dual enrollment courses are offered at a discounted tuition rate to participating students.  A large majority of the tuition paid for DE courses is returned to the department or college offering the course.  These funds are used to support and expand the DE program. 

High schools interested in offering LSU DE courses can begin the process by contacting the LSU Cain Center. The DE course is facilitated by a high school teacher with content and assessments provided by the LSU faculty member serving as the Instructor of Record. The facilitator must successfully complete a certification workshop offered during the summer at LSU prior to facilitating the DE course.  This certification process ensures the particular DE course being offered will be identical to the course offered on the LSU campus. Students who are interested in enrolling in LSU DE courses should contact their high school. It is important to note that students enrolled in DE are considered LSU students and grades received in their DE course are reflected on their permanent college transcript.

There are many benefits of the DE program for the high school and the student alike. High schools are able to offer enriched materials from college courses and facilitators receive free professional development from LSU. The student benefit from having credit hours on their transcript and being exposed to college-level material.

“I believe that students are more likely to be ready for success in college after their initial exposure to the rigors and demands of college courses while in the nurturing environment of a high school setting,” says Phoebe Rouse, Cain Center co-director for College Readiness and precalculus mathematics director.

For more information on LSU’s Dual Enrollment program contact caincenter@lsu.edu or visit http://lsu.edu/college-readiness.