2016 Education

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Page 32 2016 EDUCATION MAGAZINE LINCOLN DAILY March 1, 2016
All of these courses are taught on the LCHS
campus, and function as general education
credits for the purposes of college transcripts.
In addition to these courses, Superintendent
Robert Bagby said the school would like to look
into offering vocational courses for credit in the
future.
“Students have come back and told us it made
things a lot easier,” said Hammer. “They can’t
believe how much it helps. These kids get to
start a semester ahead.”
Hammer said that classes offering dual credit
are almost always completely filled. Students in
these courses are encouraged to participate more
in class, as the structure of the courses are more
like college courses than typical high school
classes.
“Pace can be the biggest challenge,” said
Hammer. Hammer added that these courses help
students to get used to the rigor and speed of a
college classroom.
Students are also introduced to the different type
of grading that comes with college courses. In
the typical high school setting, a final grade is
based off of a full year of coursework. This
year is often filled with assignments of varying
importance and difficulty. However, at a college
level, a class is only one semester, and a grade
may be dependent on a handful of assignments.
For example, a college math class may only be
based off of a handful of exams and the final, as
opposed to the high school math class which still
has graded homework.
Hammer said that all of the dual-credit classes
are free for students to enroll in. Furthermore, if
a student earns an A or B grade in a class, they
receive a $150 reimbursement.
Any student can sign up for the courses, provided
they score well enough on a Compass placement
test. Prior to the test, the school provides a series
of study guides to prepare them for the exams.
“Any student can sign up for these to get a feel
for college classes,” said Hammer. “And this
is an opportunity for free credit hours, which is
great.”
So far, Hammer said the program has been very
successful, and LCHS will continue to offer these
courses as time moves on.
During ‘Coffee with the Superintendent’ this past December, LCHS Superintendent Robert Bagby and
School Board President James Mammen (left and right at the far end of the table) discussed both the
Alternative Education programs and the Dual College Credit opportunities that give students a head
start into whatever direction they are going after high school.