Napa Valley College's College And Career Access Pathways Offers High School Students Early Access To College Classes

Press release from Napa Valley College:

November 22, 2021

When St. Helena High School (SHHS) senior Chase Chreste completes his calculus class this semester, he will have the satisfaction of not only racking up credit toward his high school diploma, but also of earning his first college credits, thanks to Napa Valley College’s (NVC) College and Career Access Pathways (CCAP) dual enrollment program.

CCAP allows high school students to take college courses at their high schools during the regular day, resulting in credit for both a high school course and the college course, thus the “dual” enrollment.

St. Helena High School math teacher Madison Butts is in his fourth year participating in the program, which for his students replaces the traditional Advanced Placement (AP) high school calculus classes.

“It’s much better for the students because in an AP class, whether or not they pass the class and get credit depends on one big test,” Butts said. “With dual enrollment, they have to master the content and pass the class to get both high school and college credit.”

Chreste says he agrees that CCAP is better. “There is less pressure to just try to learn everything on the AP test,” he said. “I like that you just have to pass the class to get college credit and can actually focus on learning the material rather than cramming for a test.”

Butts stresses that the college content isn’t watered down to make it easier for high school students. “I teach more in line with Napa Valley College’s curriculum. The expectations go up,” he says. “For example, in high school, matrices aren’t typically used in calculus classes. But in college, they are. So NVC’s 120/121 Calculus classes generally line up with a typical AP Calculus class in high school.”

His students aren’t daunted by the challenge, however. This year, all of his senior calculus students and his junior and senior pre-calculus students, a total of 35, are enrolled in CCAP.

“And 100 percent of my calculus students go on to post-secondary education,” Butts says proudly. SHHS senior Rehn Bothos, for example, says he looks forward to continuing his education next year at Point Loma Nazarene University or University of San Diego, with an ultimate goal of becoming a general surgeon.

“I am so grateful that high school students have the opportunity to get college credit at this level,” he says.

This press release was produced by Napa Valley College. The views expressed here are the author’s own.