A quantitative assessment of Texas house bill 505: college dual credit courses and academic success among high school students

Texas House Bill 505 expanded dual credit programs to include high school freshmen and sophomores. This study examined the relationship of high school student characteristics and academic success in first attempt dual credit courses. Characteristics refer to year in high school, gender, and high school size. Success is passing scores in English, mathematics, and history. Data were collected from a community college, providing services to area high schools. Of 826 cases 10 were freshmen and sophomores. More data from the state was unavailable as the state does not require reporting. Therefore, analyses included juniors and seniors with chi-square and logistic regression. House Bill 505 was assessed with Fowler’s (2013) Six-Stage Model of public policy. Results from statistical analyses were mixed, indicating context plays a large role and it is not known how well House Bill 505 functions. Future research should focus on tracking high school students in dual credit courses.