Formative Threads in the Tapestry of College Credit in High School: An Early History of the Development of Concurrent Enrollment and a Case Study of the Country's Oldest Program

Abstract

While dual and concurrent enrollment (DE/CE) programs are a frequent part of a student’s secondary educational experience today, relatively little is known about how these programs came to be, what factors influenced their development, and what individual and institutional stakeholders were involved. This paper traces how DE/CE programs were created as one of many educational remedies to issues of articulation and duplication between high schools and colleges and the need for acceleration and enrichment for some students during the early and middle twentieth century. At that time, more students than ever were moving through the educational system, education attainment was increasing, and sociopolitical concerns required new ideas for the acceleration and enrichment of students. Additionally, this article also provides a historical review of the longest running CE program in the United States, the University of Connecticut’s Early College Experience Program. The historical review seeks to reflect and exemplify how the broader sociopolitical influences discussed in the first section of the paper influenced the creation of the first CE program in the country. Through understanding how one program came to be, the current landscape of DE/CE–as well as the evolution and future directions–can be better understood and contextualized.