The Impact of Dual Credit Engineering Programs on Post-Secondary Recruiting and Completion at Gateway Technical College

Abstract

Dual credit has existed for over three decades now, and Gateway Technical College (GTC) is offering a new variation on it with a pilot program partnership with Racine Unified School District’s REAL school. This study examined the program from a student’s perspective, asking questions to help understand if an on-sight dual credit program will benefit the technical college in recruitment and retention in engineering and advanced manufacturing programs. The study established a benchmark as the program was only in its second year at the time of the study and had only had three students graduate since its inception. An anonymous electronic survey was administered to high school students enrolled in dual credit courses at GTC in a special engineering technology program partnership between GTC and Racine Unified School District (RUSD). The survey gathered student perspectives of dual credit courses and how they planned to proceed with their education to become career ready. Results of the study can be used to develop a training and recruiting curriculum to aid in future efforts to inform the students, their parents, the high school faculty, and the college faculty about this model.