Early College Academy
What is Dual Enrollment?
The Dual Enrollment (DE) Program at San Benito CISD allows students to earn college credit while still in high school. Currently, our primary Dual Enrollment partner is Texas Southmost College (TSC). We currently also offer certain dual courses with Texas State Technical College (TSTC) for a selective group of students in Education classes. New and Returning Dual Enrollment students will have to submit a DE packet with all required signatures (both from student and parents) by the designated deadline, in order to be considered for Dual Enrollment each semester. We will host a DE Info Session each semester to discuss deadlines and applications for the upcoming semesters.
What is Early College Academy?
The Early College Academy (ECA) is an initiative that is part of our Dual Enrollment Program. ECA is a cohort of students, by grade level, that are taking Dual Enrollment classes together throughout their 10th, 11th, and 12th grade of high school. Students can apply to the ECA their 9th grade year, during the Spring semester (right before they leave VMA and become 10th graders). Each spring semester we will host an ECA Info Session to discuss deadlines and applications.
Once the student applies and is in the ECA, they will NOT have to submit anymore Dual Enrollment packets again; students will automatically be registered/scheduled for the 2 DE Courses each semester. These students are registered and scheduled to take 2 Dual Enrollment courses EACH SEMESTER during the school day. They are following a course sequence of Dual Enrollment classes each year and will continue to do so until they graduate HS or they decide to opt out. If they successfully follow the guidelines, expectations, and course sequence…, ECA students will graduate SBHS with up to 40 hours of College.
Please know that our Higher Education (Dual Enrollment) partner is Texas Southmost College (TSC), and the majority of all the Dual Enrollment courses that we offer at SBHS, are taught by our very own HS Instructors that have a Master’s Degree in that specific area they are teaching Dual… and they are credentialed by TSC.
How do I know if my Dual Enrollment/ECA Classes will Transfer?
Depending on where you get admitted and decide to attend college after high school, will depend how these Dual Enrollment classes will be transferred. Please see the following link to learn how these Dual Enrollment college classes taken from Texas Southmost College (or TAMUK if classes were take prior to Fall 2019) will transfer to the school you are planning to enroll after HS.*Depending on the schools and/or department’s policies (Program of Study/Major)…will depend if and when theses Dual Classes will be used/transferred to that specific program of study/major.
https://www.tccns.org/ (click on Compare Schools; select respective schools you want to compare). Comparing institutions allows users to select two institutions at a time to check against the entire current common course matrix.
Important Dual Enrollment Information