{"id":22,"date":"2015-10-22T19:42:49","date_gmt":"2015-10-22T19:42:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/p20.test.hyperspective.com\/dualcredit\/?page_id=22"},"modified":"2026-01-02T11:46:38","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T21:46:38","slug":"early-college","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/dualcredit\/early-college\/","title":{"rendered":"Early College"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>What is Early College?<\/h2>\n<p>Early College is a partnership between the Hawai\u2018i State Department of Education (HIDOE) and the University of Hawai\u2018i (UH) System that allows high school students to take \u201csheltered\u201d college classes with their high school peers. Currently, these classes are offered in a variety of modalities &#8211; face-to-face on the high school campus, online (synchronous or asynchronous), or hybrid. Students who successfully complete classes at the 100-level and above receive both high school and college credit (dual credit).<\/p>\n<p>Early College programming varies by high school. Some high schools and their UH campus partners may offer Early College classes as part of a pathway that leads to a college certificate or associate\u2019s degree; other high schools may just offer one Early College class per semester to students in a specific career academy.<\/p>\n<p>In February 2024, the HIDOE and UH jointly released the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/dualcredit\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/EC-Strategic-Directions-FINAL.pdf\">Early College Strategic Directions,<\/a> which sets a shared vision for Hawai\u02bbi&#8217;s Early College program.\u00a0 The Early College Strategic Directions will guide future practices and priorities in Hawai\u02bbi&#8217;s Early College program.<\/p>\n<p>Thanks in large part to funding provided by the Hawai\u2018i State Legislature, Early College classes are free of charge to participating HIDOE students.<\/p>\n<h2>Where are Early College classes offered?<\/h2>\n<p>High schools across the state of Hawai\u2018i \u2013 in collaboration with all 10 UH campuses \u2013 offer Early College classes. Early College is the state\u2019s most popular dual credit program, with 53 public high schools offering Early College classes during the 2023-24 school year.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/dualcredit\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Island-Graphic-HSs-Offering-EC-SY-23-24.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-842 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/dualcredit\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Island-Graphic-HSs-Offering-EC-SY-23-24-1024x573.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"573\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/dualcredit\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Island-Graphic-HSs-Offering-EC-SY-23-24-1024x573.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/dualcredit\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Island-Graphic-HSs-Offering-EC-SY-23-24-300x168.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/dualcredit\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Island-Graphic-HSs-Offering-EC-SY-23-24-768x429.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/dualcredit\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Island-Graphic-HSs-Offering-EC-SY-23-24-1536x859.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/dualcredit\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Island-Graphic-HSs-Offering-EC-SY-23-24-2048x1145.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The program has dramatically expanded across the state since its inception. Since Fall 2012, more than 25,000 public high school students have participated in the Early College program.\u00a0 In addition, the number of public high school graduates participating in dual credit programs and earning 6 or more college credits prior to their high school graduation has steadily increased.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/dualcredit\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/DC-Participation-Rate-Classes-of-2012-2023.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-large wp-image-847\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/dualcredit\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/DC-Participation-Rate-Classes-of-2012-2023-1024x524.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"524\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/dualcredit\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/DC-Participation-Rate-Classes-of-2012-2023-1024x524.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/dualcredit\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/DC-Participation-Rate-Classes-of-2012-2023-300x154.png 300w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/dualcredit\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/DC-Participation-Rate-Classes-of-2012-2023-768x393.png 768w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/dualcredit\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/DC-Participation-Rate-Classes-of-2012-2023-1536x786.png 1536w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/dualcredit\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/DC-Participation-Rate-Classes-of-2012-2023-2048x1049.png 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Additional data is available related to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/dualcredit\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/More-HS-Completers-Participating-in-Early-College-Includes-Class-of-2023.pdf\">number of students participating in the Early College program<\/a>, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/dualcredit\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Number-of-High-Schools-Participating-in-EC-SY-12-13-through-SY-23-24.pdf\">number of public high schools offering Early College classes<\/a>, and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/dualcredit\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Number-of-EC-Classes-SY-12-13-through-SY-23-24.pdf\">number of Early College classes provided by UH campuses<\/a>.\u00a0 Data related to state-level and school-level participation rates in the Early College program are available in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hawaiidxp.org\/data-products\/statewide-early-college-participation\/\">Statewide Early College Participation dashboard<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2>What are some of the positive outcomes associated with Early College participation?<\/h2>\n<p>Local and national research has found strong correlations between participation in dual credit programs such as Early College and:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Increased educational aspirations;<\/li>\n<li>Higher high school GPAs;<\/li>\n<li>Increased college enrollment;<\/li>\n<li>Higher number of college credits accumulated within one year of high school graduation;<\/li>\n<li>Increased first to second year college persistence,<\/li>\n<li>Increased degree attainment; and<\/li>\n<li>Decreased college English &amp; math remediation rates.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Research has found particularly strong benefits for participation in dual credit programs for students who are traditionally underrepresented in higher education, including economically disadvantaged, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, and first generation college students.\u00a0 Additional data is available related to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/dualcredit\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/First-Fall-College-Enrollment-by-Dual-Credit-Status-Class-of-2023.pdf\">dual credit participation and first fall college enrollment<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/dualcredit\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/First-to-Second-Year-Persistence-for-Early-College-Students.pdf\">first to second year college persistence<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/dualcredit\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Degree-Completion-by-Early-College-Status.pdf\">college degree completion of all students<\/a>.\u00a0 \u00a0More information about how different student groups benefit from Early College participation is available in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hawaiidxp.org\/data-products\/early-college-strategic-directions\/\">Early College Strategic Directions Metrics dashboard<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>To learn more about the benefits of the Early College program, check out testimonials from:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/dualcredit\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/EC-Testimonials-Current-Students-v4-01.28.21.pdf\">Current\/recent Early College participants<\/a>;<\/li>\n<li>Former Early College participants (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/dualcredit\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/EC-Testimonials-Alumni-v4-Part-1-01.28.21.pdf\">part 1<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/dualcredit\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/EC-Testimonials-Alumni-v5-Part-2-01.28.21.pdf\">part 2<\/a>); and<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/dualcredit\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/EC-Testimonials-UH-HIDOE-Partners-v3-01.28.21.pdf\">HIDOE &amp; UH partners who support the program<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Additional information is available in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/dualcredit\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/P-20_Early_College_March-2023-FINAL.pdf\">March 2023 Early College Update document<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>If you are a student interested in learning more about what Early College opportunities are available at your high school, please talk to your high school counselor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What is Early College? Early College is a partnership between the Hawai\u2018i State Department of Education (HIDOE) and the University of Hawai\u2018i (UH) System that allows high school students to take \u201csheltered\u201d college classes with their high school peers. Currently, these classes are offered in a variety of modalities &#8211; face-to-face on the high school [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-two-column.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-22","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Early College - Dual Credit<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/dualcredit\/early-college\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Early College - Dual Credit\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What is Early College? 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