Turner students take advantage of dual enrollment

Junior and senior students at Turner High school have been attending dual enrollment courses this school year, earning both high school and college credits.

Dual enrollment is offered every year in Montana and many students earn general education credits at a free or discounted rate while in high school. The classes are general education classes and in Montana the first two are free, after that the classes are reduced price from regular tuition. 

Turner Public Schools Superintendent Tony Warren said dual enrollment gives students a chance to take an entry level class in a field they are interested in and get a feel about the career the student is pursuing. 

“We had five students earn credit in six dual enrollment courses. Medical terminology, college algebra, college writing and criminology were taken through Miles City Community College and (Montana State University-)Northern. A total of 18 college credits were acquired by our students last semester,” he said.

The Montana University System website says Dual Enrollment is the broad term for opportunities for high school students to take college courses while still in high school.

Students take Dual Enrollment courses for either Dual Credit or College Credit Only. Dual Credit courses award high school and college credit simultaneously for the same course. College Credit Only courses award college credit — and not high school credit — for a college course.

Montana University System colleges and universities offer Dual Enrollement courses via two delivery models: Early College and Concurrent Enrollment.

Early College courses are standard college classes that are open to high school students and offered on a college campus or online for Dual Credit or College Credit Only.

Concurrent Enrollment Courses are college courses taught at a high school to a class of high school students by a qualified high school teacher for Dual Credit.

Warren said that, being a small Class C school, Turner can only offer a limited number of classes, and that is why he encourages the students to participate in the dual enrollment program. 

“We have students that are able to explore their field of study that they think they might be interested in. They are able to get a feel if it is the right fit for them or not. For example, we had three seniors take a medical terminology course through Miles City (community college) and I believe 2 out of those 3 students are looking at careers in the health care sector,” he said.

Of the students who took the medical terminology courses, one wants to be a nurse, one will be joining the military and isn’t sure what field they will be pursuing and the other wants to be in the health care sector but is not sure what occupation yet. 

One student took the criminology course and has high aspirations Warren said. This student’s goal is to go to Stanford University for college.

Warren said the school also had students take courses from Montana Digital Academy, the state online education system taught by the state’s public education system. Two students took principals of agriculture and are looking into ag-related careers.

Warren said he has been working on getting a hands-on program back into the Turner school for students who are looking to go into trade schools, military careers and two-year colleges. He hopes to bring this program to students soon and help the local community fill job gaps they are seeing now. 

There is also a chance that Warren may be able to work with local businesses to have an apprenticeship program for careers students are interested in, such as mechanics, agriculture and welding, he said.