Guidance Counselors

Since Dual Enrollment Agreements are different for every district, the above link will take you to a selection of the counties within Florida and the agreements between the school district and the Florida College System institution.

These agreements include information such as:

Expectations of collaboration efforts between the high school or home education programs, and post-secondary institution
Details regarding student eligibility
Information on any professional development opportunities for guidance counselors
How students and parents will be informed of, qualify and register for dual enrollment
How dual enrollment will be funded

While the format in each of these agreements varies, each outline collaboration efforts and responsibilities of the entities involved in order to ensure a smooth student transition.

Guidance Counselors

Guidance Counselors are one of the most important figures involved with assisting and advising

high school students and their parents regarding the different options available to accelerate

their education. From dual enrollment, advanced placement and international baccalaureate

programs, Guidance Counselors have the roll of advising and assisting each individual student

to help them make the best decision for their specific goals.

Below are helpful articles and websites for Guidance Counselors to stay current with the policies and agreements which guide the dual enrollment program within Florida. Included below are also summaries of the information that can be found in each attached link and the organization which generated the information. Also, consider looking at the "Additional Rescources" page on this website for more information on useful websites regarding this topic.

This fact sheet, which is presented by the Florida House of Representatives, is an overview of the primary questions asked regarding the specifics of dual enrollment, as well as how it compares to other options such as Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB) programs. For example, this document discusses how when GPAs are calculated that the grade earned in dual enrollment must be weighted the same as AP and IB courses.

Additional information in the attached link include the following:

Coordination between secondary and post-secondary institutions
How dual enrollment is funded
How students should learn about dual enrollment
The level of credit awarded for dual enrollment

Throughout the document, the Florida Statute section that relates to the facts presented are identified, making it simple to refer to each statute as needed.

The National Alliance of Concurrent Enrollment Partnerships' (NACEP) has established policies and procedures for states to follow in order to maintain quality standards for dual enrollment. This report was published in February 2015 and outlines the NACEP strategies used by eight states to maintain the quality and expectations of dual enrollment courses, with one of these states being Florida.

This report outlines the establishment of these policies and the importance of ensuring course quality, as well as the “potential benefits and trade-offs” such as “faulty site visits” to ensure the course quality standards are maintained.

These standards do not set the eligibility requirements of students, but instead establish ownership and maintain a generalized program approach that can be applied to a range of institutions.

The attached document presents a study done in 2009 on the findings from a “nationally representative, longitudinal study of more than 21,000 9th graders in 944 schools who will be followed throughout their secondary and postsecondary years.”

Part I of this study specifically details the findings regarding the three types of college-level courses offered to high school students, dual enrollment, Advanced Placement courses and the International Baccalaureate program, and the Guidance Counselor’s role in assisting students with these options.

Graphs are also depicted in this section displaying information such as the following:

Type of college-level course offered to students compared to the type of high school (i.e. private or public school)
Type of college-level course offered to students compared to the high school’s rate of college enrollments
Various graphs depicting Guidance Counselors “actions to facilitate students’ transition between high school and college”