High schools throughout the region are seeing a rise in the number of the students taking advantage of district-paid opportunities in partnership with Iowa Central Community College.
Southeast Webster-Grand High School, Burnside, has operated a charter school for five years, according to Superintendent Launi Dane.
"We offer concurrent courses here on the campus, on the high school site," Dane said. "And then we bus kids up to Iowa Central and they're allowed to take any course up there."
College courses offered at Southeast Webster-Grand include introductory English literature, composition, business courses, and career and technical classes.
Dane said the number of students taking courses in her district varies.
"We used to get about half of our seniors taking them, and now we're up to a third," she said. "It depends on the class."
Last year, Dane said, they had a senior who spent all day, every day, at Iowa Central in its automotive department.
"He never came to any classes here," she said. "He was up there full time."
Dane said she thought the classes, which the district pays for, were beneficial to the students.
"It's a good opportunity for them," she said.
Students at Prairie Valley High School are also taking advantage of the opportunity through Iowa Central, said James Dick, Prairie Valley Community School District superintendent.
"They take some dual-credit online courses if they're not able to get them through Iowa Central or the district," Dick said.
Dick said the number of students at Prairie Valley taking the courses, though, has been consistent from year to year.
"Every year there tends to be a little bit of an increase but not a lot," he said. "We have a lot of students that take advantage of it."
Dick also thinks the courses are beneficial for students.
"I think it benefits both the district and Iowa Central because it normally gets more kids into the community college that way, and kids get both high school and college credit," he said.
Humboldt High School students are also taking concurrent courses through Iowa Central, according to Humboldt Community School District Superintendent Greg Darling.
"We have a large number of kids taking classes," Darling said. "We average 12 to 15 credit hours for each student that graduates."
While that number hasn't explicitly increased, Darling said, Humboldt High School is offering a greater variety of college courses.
"We're offering more courses, but they have to meet the criteria," he said. "The standards are a lot tougher now over the last two years. You've got to meet qualifications to take the class."
Darling said that he thinks many students are ready for the classes, and agreed that the opportunity was beneficial for the students.
"I think it eliminates the whole 'senioritis,'" he said. "It helps kids get confident in the college setting. I think it gets them to do the higher rigor that it takes in the college setting. I think it helps them out a lot."
There was also a financial benefit, Darling said.
"A lot of these kids couldn't afford college without the school district," he said.
Contact Brandon L. Summers at (515) 573-2141 or bsummers@messengernews.net.