Analysis Of American High School - University Of Articulation In Dual Credit Courses

Secondary schools have close relationship with postsecondary institutions. Cultivation of high-quality talents depends on the curriculum articulation and their joint efforts. In the long term, for all kinds of reasons, the situation of curriculum articulation between high school and college in our country is not satisfactory, which has certain influences on the cultivation quality. Therefore, the main curricular transition format in America——dual enrollment was chosen and studied.Beginning in the 1970s, dual enrollment has enjoyed the fastest development as a secondary postsecondary education transition mode in recent years. This curriculum can be carried out in high school, college and community college where students can get high school and college credits at the same time. Therefore, they're exempted to study the correlated courses. Dual enrollment plays an active role in smoothing the transition between high school and college, shortening the college-year, promoting graduation and increasing employment rates, which attracts worldwide attention from educators.Six parts are subdivided in this thesis. The first part is introduction. The second one is the review of curriculum articulation between high school and college in American history including 6-4-4 plan, Middle College High School (MCHS), Advanced Placement (AP) course and International Baccalaureate (IB) course. In the third part, based on the summarization of historical development stage, Syracuse University Project Advance (SUPA) and PESO et al are set as typical examples of different stages. Credit transition, financial support policy, course target, course content and course quality guarantee et al are elaborated. In the fourth part, development status and practice patterns of dual enrollment courses are integrally introduced. In the fifth part, dual enrollment is thoroughly analyzed. Through the comparison with the former courses, dual enrollment course gives prominence to recent years'American basic spirit of their commitment to the combination of excellence and equality promoted by the US education system. Achievements and existing problems of dual enrollment are reviewed. Some feasible strategies are proposed. In the sixth part, some beneficial inspirations and references from dual enrollment can be brought to the reform of secondary education and post-secondary education system in China. Furthermore, some constructive suggestions can be given to the curriculum articulation between high school and college in China.