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Dual Enrollment Programs: Setting Minimum Standard of Admission

Currently the admission requirements for entry into dual enrollment programs at the University of Missouri are informally set at a HS GPA of 2.5. This study examined the policy implications of increasing this standard.

Columbia(P&B)--Currently the admission requirements for entry into dual enrollment high school programs at the University of Missouri are informally set at a high school GPA of 2.50. This study examined the policy implications of increasing this standard.

The goal of this study was to determine if there was a minimum high school GPA that could be used as a requirement for participation in the dual high school enrollment programs, primarily at Ë¿¹ÏappKC and Ë¿¹ÏappSL. Because high school and college transcript data of the dual enrolled students are not readily available, we used the records of students who were required to meet first-time freshman standards (fall 1997) to determine what minimum high school GPA could be used as a requirement for automatic admission into the University. The problem was approached in several ways.

Data Analysis:

• Alternative 1: Equal Percent Based on ACT of 24
  • The ACT score of 24 is the lowest score that automatically admits a prospective student into the University. For fall 1997, the percent of students entering with an ACT of 24 or higher was 61%. This equates to a minimum high school GPA of 3.14.
• Alternative 2: Equal Standards of 50% of Current New Students
  • Fifty percent of the first-time freshmen enter with a high school GPA of 3.30 or better.
• Alternative 3: Regression--Using high school GPA to predict first semester GPA
  • Model 1 - Predicting a 2.00 GPA for the first semester of college work
    Minimum high school GPA = 2.30
  • Model 2 - Predicting a 2.50 GPA for the first semester of college work
    Minimum high school GPA = 2.87
  • Model 3 - Predicting a 3.00 GPA for the first semester of college work
    Minimum high school GPA = 3.44

Potential Policy Implications:

The use of a GPA involves lowering current informal requirements of a minimum high school GPA to 2.30 (Model 1 of Alternative 3) or creating higher standards for high school students than our current general admission's policy (Alternatives 1, 2 and Models 2 and 3 of Alternative 3). Lowering the minimum GPA requirement is not a viable option. Creating higher requirements for non-degree seeking students than those required for degree-seeking students also has potential policy issue problems.

Research has been done that supports the notion that dual enrolled students do as well as those who took the courses on-campus (Quality of Dual-credit Preparation for Further Study in Foreign Languages, Steve Chatman and Kandis Smith, P&B97-06). However, there is a lack of readily available data on these students. Questions such as how well they perform in particular college classes, are they as successful as other first-time college students, how does their performance compare to students participating in Advanced Placement programs are beyond current, readily available data sources.

Data Sources:

Results are based on using regression and frequency tables for 4,317 first-time college students at Ë¿¹ÏappC, Ë¿¹ÏappKC, and Ë¿¹ÏappSL for the fall of 1997. The data records are part of the Curator's Exceptions Reporting System.

Ë¿¹ÏappKC Dual High School Enrollment Credit Hours & Headcount FY1993 - FY1998 (PDF 5 KB)

Ë¿¹ÏappSL Dual High School Enrollment Credit Hours & Headcount FY1993 - FY1998 (PDF 5 KB)