[May 02, 2009] Cherry Hill, Rowan offer dual-credit courses Tweet May 02, 2009 (The Philadelphia Inquirer - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Beginning next year, Cherry Hill high school students will be able to take Rowan University classes online -- for a discount and a potential college scholarship. The district and university signed a dual-credit agreement this week that allows juniors and seniors to fulfill high school requirements and earn college credits simultaneously. Upon graduation, students who attend Rowan will receive a scholarship equivalent to the tuition they have paid. "The initiative provides high-achieving students the ability to get even more of a head start on their college education beyond their high school advanced placement classes," Rowan President Donald J. Farish said. Busy seniors particularly will like the flexibility of online classes, whose course work can be scheduled around community service, part-time jobs, or school activities, said Cherry Hill school board member Kenneth Hartman, who helped conceive the program. Although students will be able to complete course work any time of day, classes will be interactive through e-mail, discussion groups, posted comments, and videos, said Hartman, director of eLearning at Drexel University. "I hope down the road we have a whole catalog of courses, so a senior isn't just housed in a classroom," said Hartman, whose son and daughter attend Cherry Hill East. "You're looking at kids who are hanging out in a virtual world from age 6 with Club Penguin. They're ready for this." Online learning is part of a national re-envisioning of high school education, said Susan Patrick, president of the nonprofit International Association for K-12 Online Learning. Michigan and Alabama now require an online class to graduate. In many districts, Patrick said, computers connect students to courses and teachers they could not otherwise access. Virtual schools in Kentucky and Michigan, for example, offer Mandarin Chinese. The Rowan-Cherry Hill partnership follows a new and important college-preparation enhancement, she said. Some California and North Carolina universities offer dual-credit online courses at no cost to students -- in part to motivate high-risk students to even consider college, Patrick said. She had not heard of a tuition credit such as Rowan is offering. Cherry Hill has identified about 125 students qualified to take one of the five advanced math courses Rowan initially will offer online, said Jim Riordan, director of guidance. The university needs to enroll 10 to 15 to form a class. "There's a quality of self-motivation a student has to have to take a course online. What we want is success," Riordan said. If a course doesn't fill, he may recruit additional students from neighboring districts. Students will pay $250 a credit hour -- a 60 percent savings on Rowan's usual tuition, Provost Ali Houshmand said. "If they bank 10 to 15 credit hours, they'll enter a semester ahead," Houshmand said. The deal "benefits the school district because more students will go to a university. It benefits us because more will come and graduate faster." Rowan hopes to spread the partnership from Cherry Hill to other South Jersey and Pennsylvania high schools and broaden course offerings to meet demand. As a recruitment investment, Houshmand said, it could be equal to or better than the $500 per student it generally takes to attract new freshmen. "If you take these courses, we will give you every dollar back," he said. Contact staff writer Cynthia Henry at 856-779-3970 or [email protected]. To see more of The Philadelphia Inquirer, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.philly.com/inquirer. Copyright (c) 2009, The Philadelphia Inquirer Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]