Mississippi high school students who take dual-credit courses go to college at the nation’s highest rate, according to a recent report. 

It’s generally true that students who take college classes while in high school attend college at higher rates than their peers. Earlier this year, a study from the Community College Research Center at Teacher’s College, Columbia University found that nationally, 81% of dual-credit students go to college. 

In Mississippi, that number shoots up to 93%, meaning the vast majority of the state’s high school students who take college classes enroll in a two- or four-year university. 

“When we did this ranking, boom, right to the top it went,” said John Fink, a senior research associate and program lead at the research center who co-authored the study. 

State officials say there’s likely no silver bullet for the high rate at which Mississippi’s dual-credit students enroll in college. Here, “dual credit” means a course that students can take for both high school and college credit. It’s different from “dual enrollment,” which refers to a high school student who is also enrolled at a community college. 

In the last 10 years, participation in these programs has virtually exploded among Mississippi high school students. In 2014, about 5,900 students took dual-credit courses in Mississippi, according to the Mississippi Community College Board. 

Now, it’s more than 18,000. 

“It reduces time to completion on the post-secondary level,” said Kell Smith, Mississippi C0mmunity College Board’s executive director. “It potentially reduces debt because students are taking classes at the community college while they’re still in high school, and it also just exposes high school students to what post-secondary course work is like.” 

“It’s something to be proud of,” he added. 

There are numerous reasons why Mississippi’s dual-credit courses have been attracting more and more students and helping them enroll in college at the nation’s highest rate, officials say. 

With a few college credits under their belt, students may be more inspired to go for a college degree since it’s closer in reach. Dual-credit courses can also build confidence in students who were on the fence about college without requiring them to take a high-stakes test in the spring. And the Mississippi Department of Education’s accountability model ensures that school districts are offering advanced courses like dual credit.

Plus, Mississippi’s 15 community colleges reach more corners of the state, meaning districts that may not be able to offer Advanced Placement courses can likely partner with a nearby community college.

“They’re sometimes like the only provider in many communities, and they’re oftentimes the most affordable providers,” Fink said.

Test score requirements can pose a barrier to students who want to take dual-credit courses, but that may be less of a factor in Mississippi. While the state requires students to score a 19 on ACT Math to take certain courses, which is above the state average, a 17 on the ACT Reading, below the state average of 17.9, is enough for other courses. 

Transportation is another barrier that many high schools have eliminated by offering dual-credit courses on their campuses, making it so students don’t have to commute to the community colleges to take classes. 

“They can leave one classroom, go next door, and they’re sitting in a college class,” said Wendy Clemons, the Mississippi Department of Education’s associate state superintendent for secondary education. 

This also means high school counselors can work directly with dual-credit students to encourage them to pursue some form of college.

“It is much less difficult to graduate and not go to college when you already possess 12 hours of credit,” Clemons said.

Word-of-mouth is just as key.

“First of all, I think parents and community members know more about it,” Clemons said, “They have almost come to expect it, in a way.” 

This all translates to benefits to students. Students who take dual-credit courses are more likely to finish college on time. They can save on student debt.

But not all Mississippi students are benefiting equally, Fink said. Thr research center’s report found that Black students in Mississippi and across the country were less likely to pursue dual-credit opportunities. 

“The challenge like we see in essentially every state is that who’s in dual enrollment is not really reflective of who’s in high school,” Fink said.

Without more study, it’s hard to say specifically why this disparity exists in Mississippi, but Fink said research has generally shown it stems from elitist beliefs about who qualifies for dual-credit courses. Test score requirements can be another factor, along with underresourced school districts. 

“The conventional thinking is (that) dual enrollment is just … another gifted-and-talented program?” Fink said. “It has all this baggage that is racialized … versus, are we thinking about these as opportunities for any high school student?”

Another factor may be the cost of dual-credit courses, which is not uniform throughout the state. Depending on where they live, some students may pay more for dual-credit courses depending on the agreements their school districts have struck with local community colleges and universities. 

This isn’t just an equity issue for students — it affects the institutions, too. 

“You know, we’ve seen that dual-credit at the community college level can be a double-edged sword,” Smith said. “We lose students who oftentimes … want to stay as long as they can, but there are only so many hours they can take at a community college. 

Dual-credit courses, which are often offered at a free or reduced price, can also result in less revenue to the college. 

“Dual credit does come at a financial price for some community colleges, because of the deeply discounted rates that they offer it,” Smith said. “The more students that you have taking dual-credit courses, the more the colleges can lose.” 

State officials are also working to turn the double-edged sword into a win-win for students and institutions. 

One promising direction is career-technical education. Right now, the vast majority of dual credit students enroll in academic courses, such as general education classes like Composition 1 or 2 that they will need for any kind of college degree. 

“CTE is far more expensive to teach,” Clemons said.

Smith hopes that state officials can work to offer more dual-credit career-technical classes. 

“If a student knows they want to enroll in career-tech in one of our community colleges, let’s load them up,” Smith said. “Those students are more likely to enter the workforce quicker. If you want to take the career-tech path, that’s your ultimate goal.”

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

A former Capitol Police officer has been accused of violating the civil rights of a handcuffed man whose head he slammed into the hood of a car and kicked in 2022. 

Jeffery Walker, a former officer with the Flex Unit, was in federal court Wednesday. He faces up to 10 years in federal prison for one charge of deprivation of rights under the color of law. 

The person Walker is accused of injuring is identified in court records as E.S. 

On July 27, 2022, Walker was on duty and driving an unmarked car when he tried to stop E.S.’s car, but E.S. did not pull over and led Walker on a chase, according to an indictment unsealed Wednesday. 

Three unnamed Jackson Police Department officers joined in the chase until Walker cut E.S. off, which caused Walker to hit a tree and E.S. to swerve into a yard. Walker and the JPD officers approached E.S.’s car, pulled him out, put him on the ground and handcuffed him. 

The indictment states Walker grabbed E.S. by the back of the neck and slammed his head into the car hood, before putting him back on the ground and kicking him in the head and face. 

Magistrate Judge Andrew Harris approved an unsecured $10,000 bond for Walker. 

Walker’s trial is scheduled for Feb. 10, 2025 with U.s. District Judge Henry Wingate. 

The former Capitol Police officer also faces an excessive force lawsuit filed last year stemming from an incident that happened weeks after the 2022 incident. 

On Aug. 14, 2022, Sherita Harris was a passenger in a car driven by her friend. As the car waited for a traffic signal to turn green on State and Amite streets, the lawsuit alleges Walker and Capitol Police Officer Michael Rhinewalt approached the car from behind, turned on its emergency lights and directed the car to pull over. 

Shortly after the driver pulled over, Rhinewalt began to shoot into the car, according to the lawsuit. The driver fled to avoid bullets, but Harris was hit in the head and slumped over in her seat.

She was taken to the hospital where she had surgery to remove bullet fragments from her head, according to the lawsuit. The injuries left her with lingering issues including with her speech and cognitive abilities. 

As of December, the lawsuit remains active. The lawsuit seeks $3 million in damages, and the case is expected to go to trial in October 2025. 

The officers offered a different account. 

Walker was called as a witness in a September 2022 preliminary hearing for Sinatra Jordan, the driver of the car, who has been charged with fleeing law enforcement, assault of a law enforcement officer, resisting arrest and possession of marijuana. 

NBC News reported about Walker’s testimony in which he said the car ran a red light and took off after the officers got out of their cruisers. Walker and Rhinewalt chased the car and said they heard gunshots coming from it and saw items thrown out of the window. 

The car crashed into a curb and they saw the driver with a black object in his hands, prompting them to return fire. 

Jordan remains at the Raymond Detention Center and is expected to go to trial in March 2025.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

Dec. 19, 1924

Three-time Emmy winner Cicely Tyson was born in Harlem, New York. She became the first Black actor to appear as a series regular on a prime-time dramatic television series and in 1974 became the first Black actress to win an Emmy. 

Raised by her Caribbean parents, she was discovered by a fashion editor at Ebony magazine. She became a top model and began acting. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in the 1972 film, “Sounder.” And two years later, she received an Emmy Award for her portrayal of a 110-year-old former slave in “The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman.” At age 88, she became the oldest person to win an acting Tony for her performance in “The Trip to Bountiful,” and the Kennedy Center honored her a year later. 

Tyson performed on Broadway alongside James Earl Jones in “The Gin Game,” and in 2016, she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor. 

In 2018, three years before her death, she received an honorary Oscar at the age of 94. “I think when you begin to think of yourself as having achieved something, then there’s nothing left for you to work towards,” she said in accepting the award. “I want to believe that there is a mountain so high that I will spend my entire life striving to reach the top of it.”

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.