College while in high school: How dual credit is aiming for equity

Rafael Sierra, a high schooler in Baytown, Texas, has never been one to skate through life – or school. When things get tough, he’ll hear his father saying “ponte las pilas” – “put the batteries in” – and knuckle down.

So when he was told by a middle school teacher that he could take college courses in high school, for free, he jumped at the chance. He saw it as a way to be challenged, to save money on college tuition, and, above all, to make his Mexican immigrant parents and three older siblings, who paved his path to college, proud.

Five years – and nearly 50 credits – later, Rafael is part of a nationwide boom in “dual credit” learning being driven by a quest to lower the time