Comparison of High School Dual-Enrollment and Traditional First-Term General/Organic/Biochemistry College Chemistry Class Outcomes

• Published in: Journal of chemical education Vol. 91; no. 12; pp. 2058 - 2063
• Main Authors: Zuidema, Daniel R, Eames, Kevin J
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Easton American Chemical Society and Division of Chemical Education, Inc 09.12.2014; Division of Chemical Education, Inc and ACS Publications Division of the American Chemical Society; American Chemical Society
• Subjects: Academic achievement; Achievement Gains; Biochemistry; Chemical Education Research; Chemistry; College Science; College Students; Comparative Analysis; Comparative Testing; Dual Enrollment; Educational evaluation; Educational Practices; Enrollments; Georgia; High School Graduates; Organic Chemistry; Performance Based Assessment; Science education; Secondary School Science; Standardized Tests; Students; Teachers; Tennessee; Tennessee; Georgia; First-Year Undergraduate/General; High School/Introductory Chemistry; Testing/Assessment; Chemical Education Research
• ISSN: 0021-9584; 1938-1328
• DOI: 10.1021/ed500516x

Student performance in a high school dual-enrollment chemistry course was compared with student performance in the corresponding traditional college course. The two courses were taught by the same instructor and evaluated using the same American Chemical Society (ACS) standardized examination. Interestingly, the high school dual-enrollment students have outperformed the traditional college students on the college-level exam in each of the years that the dual-enrollment program has been in existence. Dual-enrolled students also consistently did better on the ACS college-level exam than they did on the ACS high school exam.