The price of college is climbing every year and daunting for parents as they look into college for their students, however, GM is now offering the opportunity for students to obtain a General Education Certificate while still in high school. This certificate is equivalent to one year of college allowing students to enter into college as a sophomore. New classes with college credit include AP Computer Science A, AP Computer Science Principles, English 12 DE, AP Statistics, Physics DE and US History DE.
The classes will use a differentiated approach with some personalized instruction. One difference with high school classes will be that DE classes will focus more on long-term projects than on regular homework assignments. This structure is intended to prepare students for college where they will have fewer attempts at getting good grades.
In terms of content, the DE classes will have deeper foci. For example, DE US History students will perform a lot more primary text analysis, and DE Physics will dive deeper into astrophysics.
Finally, a major difference between taking the DE class in high school and taking it in college is that the high school offers a lot more support to students in difficulty.
There is no specific target population for these classes. Assistant Principal Matt Hills says students have very individualized conversations to determine which is the right path for them. However, some struggling students may find success in these courses.
“We are not in competition with IB [International Baccalaureate]. We want to add to the opportunities,” said Hills. He also made it clear that IB teachers would continue teaching IB.
The dual-enrollment initiative at Mason only recently developed out of the first such class four years ago: Mr. Bryan Harris’s Geophysics DE. The program’s development is due to a large push by the Virginia legislature, which among other things removes the tuition high schools used to pay.
In any case, student interest in the program has grown since the Wednesday, February 17 information session on dual enrollment had more parents than seats set up in the cafeteria. In addition, enrollment in Harris’s DE Geophysics shot up from six last year to 36 this year.
Parents, students and the community are also voicing their support for dual-enrollment. Many other schools are trying similar programs, but Mason is moving fast and is among the front-runners in the region because of its small-size. In fact, Mason is the only school in Northern Virginia to now offer the General Education Certificate.
“If you were to ask about this three years ago, I wouldn’t have seen how,” said Hills.
