For years, Homewood students have been told there is no alternative to AP classes when it comes to earning college credit in high school, however, this could soon change.

Dual enrollment courses, which are college classes taken in high school, are generally less rigorous than AP, without an all-determining exam that could leave a student with no college credit at all.

“Homewood’s dual enrollment policy is not a practice,” principal Joel Henneke said. “We have gone through a revisit of the strategic plan as we do on a five-year cycle. As well as a change in leadership, it has allowed us to revisit that policy and practice.”

Homewood boasts one of the highest-ranked high schools in the state due in part to a remarkable number of offered AP classes.

The only way for students to gain college credit through an AP class is to score at least a three out of five on a final comprehensive exam on the course’s material.

The stress of studying for these exams, graduation, college decisions, and state finals for spring sports all falling in the same few weeks of May is overwhelming for many.

To receive college credit for a dual enrollment class, which high school students can take in place of one of their core classes, all a student has to do is pass with a C or better.

Henneke encourages incorporating dual enrollment into Homewood’s schedule to “target a different set of students and provide more opportunities for post-high school.”

“We have a very strong AP program. Nobody compares to us in that field,” Henneke said, referencing an AP participation rate of 59% in 2022 with 49% of students passing at least one exam.

“We got comfortable with how we do things, but I think we should offer as many opportunities as we can,” Henneke said. “The classes we offer should be driven by student needs not teacher preferences.”

Henneke predicts that in the following years, dual enrollment will be a well-incorporated part of scheduling, starting with a dual-enrolled finite math class offered to seniors through Jefferson State Community College in 2024.