Who can take Dual Credit?
by James Hope
The Dual Credit Program at Southwest Preparatory School District offers juniors and seniors an opportunity to take college level academic courses at the same time the students are taking high school courses. Southwest Preparatory School District and the Alamo Community College District, (ACCD) have a written agreement that follows the Texas Education Code provisions relating to courses for joint high school and college credit. Southwest Preparatory students are eligible to take college classes at any of the ACCD schools. Most classes are held at the college campuses. Some may be held at the Community Centers and at Southwest Preparatory School. Permission from the school and the district dual credit coordinator must be on file before a student takes a dual credit class. An Accuplacer must be completed and meet minimum college requirements before registering for any college course. There are no tuition fees for dual credit. Students are responsible for all textbooks and transportation to and from the dual credit classes.
Applying for Dual Credit requires
1. Completion of a Dual Credit Application from Southwest Preparatory School
2. Students must have acceptable scores on Accuplacer that meet ACCD requirements
3. Completion of online application for ACCD. Www. Applytexas.org
4. Students may be exempt from Accuplacer scores if they meet one or more of the following minimum criteria:
A. SAT: Verbal score of 500 and Math score of 500 and Total score of 1070
B. ACT: English score of 19 and Math score of 19 and Composite of 23.
C. TAKS: (10th or Exit level) English 2200 and 3 or more on Essay and Math 2200
5. Registering for college classes
Dual Credit students need to be aware of the following provisions:
1. College credit awarded by ACCD is transferable to most other colleges and universities by having ACCD school send a copy of a student’s college transcript to the other school
2. ACCD permits withdrawals from a class without penalty through a designated census day that is defined in the official academic calendar. See calendar for dates each semester.
3. Dual credit students and their parents are advised to obtain a copy of the current ACCD college catalog and become familiar with the school’s policies and procedures.
