Jobs that provide family-sustaining wages increasingly require postsecondary credentials and certificates, and one governor is determined to better equip secondary students with college credits and certificates to ease the transition to postsecondary education or the workforce.

Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear announced this month an initiative to provide dual and concurrent enrollment for secondary students in the state. “This agreement moves Kentucky closer to a seamless education system that prepares every graduate for a successful career,” said Governor Beshear. “It helps us motivate students to stay in school by increasing the relevance of their coursework, which allows them a direct path to a broad range of opportunities.”

The initiative, a partnership between several education and workforce offices in Kentucky, allows high school students to simultaneously earn high school and college credits for approved academic and Career Technical Education (CTE) courses. For the 70 percent of secondary students in Kentucky enrolled in CTE courses, the addition of dual and concurrent enrollment programs will likely spur more students to attain postsecondary degrees and credentials.

President of the Kentucky Community and Technical College System, Michael McCall, stated that “Providing students with the ability to earn college credits in high school is just one way we are providing real career opportunities to Kentuckians and transforming the state’s economy.”

Learn more about dual enrollment and CTE here.

Kara Herbertson, Education Policy Analyst

Tags: dual enrollment, Kentucky

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