Dual Credit Program Guide: Instructor Guide

As a dual credit instructor, you play a critical role in shaping students' academic pathways by helping them earn college credit while still in high school. This guide provides essential information on policies, procedures, instructional expectations, and available resources to ensure a successful teaching experience for you and meaningful outcomes for your students.

Hiring Proccess

If you're not already teaching dual credit, here's a way to enhance your teaching. Become credentialed to teach college-level classes at your high school or as an adjunct instructor at other schools. Dual credit credentialing offers more possibilities to interact with your students at a higher level, giving them richer educational opportunity and a chance to earn college credit while still in high school. This experience also serves to ease your students' transition from high school into college.

If you already have your Master's degree and 18 graduate hours in a core subject area, apply to teach for us. We are looking for qualified adjunct instructors to teach classes in:

  • Math
  • English
  • Biology
  • Political Science
  • Art Appreciation
  • Economics
  • Theatre
  • History
  • Psychology

These subjects are in high demand.

Hiring Process—for dual credit adjunct applicants

  1. Apply Online When we have an opening in a specific subject, we will contact applicants who show 18 graduate hours in that subject area.
  2. Submit Docs
    a. Once you've been contacted by Secondary Partnerships & Initiatives staff, compile and email CV/Resume and ALL academic transcripts—Bachelor's, Master's & Doctoral, 18 hours.
    b. University will process credentials to confirm you are ready to teach.
    c. University will complete hiring documentation. Human Resources will send instructions for next steps.
    Steps b. and c. can take several weeks to complete.
  3. Background check
    a. Follow instructions in email sent by HR.
  4. I-9
    a. Once the background check is complete, you will be required to set an appointment to complete your I-9. Timely completion of the I-9 documentation will speed the hiring process and initiate onboarding.
    b. Once I-9 is completed, access to email and D2L will be initiated.
  5. Onboarding
    a. Employees of the University must complete all required training.
    b. Prepare CV & Syllabus according to University templates. By State law, these must be posted within 2 weeks of the beginning of the semester. Email them to your department admins and to the Secondary Partnerships & Initiatives Administrative Associate.

Once School Starts

January

  • 1st Class Day use add/drop form & students may not be added after the 4th class day
  • 12th class day = census day. Remind instructors to follow emailed instructions

February

  • Early intervention. HS notified of students failing

March

  • Drop deadline
  • Mid-term grades

April

  • Withdraw deadline

May

  • Last class day 8 final exams

August

  • Ist Class Day use add/drop form & students may not be added after the 4th class day

September

12th class day = census day
Remind instructors to follow emailed instructions

October

  • Early Intervention. HS notified of students failing
  • Mid Term Grades
  • Drop Deadlines

November

  • Withdraw Deadline

December

  • Last class day and final exams

Grade Checks/Reporting

Your student's primary interaction with the University will be through his/her instructors. The University will conduct two grade checks during the course of the semester. One is at five weeks (Early Intervention), and the other is at eight weeks (mid-term). Five and eight week checks that show a student has a D or F in the course are shared with the school leadership for intervention. Five-week interventions are generally for “heads up” purposes, but if a student is still making a D or F at eight weeks, the University requires they drop the course. Instructors provide the University the student's letter grade and its numerical value. The letter grade is used for University purposes, and the numerical value is reported to the high school for use on the student's high school record. Instructors will receive Early Intervention grade reporting instructions from the Secondary Partnerships & Initiatives staff.

The Registrar's Office provides notification and instructions of grade reporting for mid-term and final grades. Mid-term and final grades are required to be uploaded from D2L into our SIS system – Banner. The Academic Calendars and other important information are found on the Registrar’s webpages.
Dropping a Course or Withdrawal from All Courses

If a student wishes to drop one or more courses during the semester, the High School Dual Credit designee needs to be notified, and they must submit the dual credit add/drop form to the Assistant Director of Secondary Partnerships & Initiatives. Approved add/drop forms are submitted to the Registrar's Office to add, drop, or withdraw a student from courses or the university. If a student is being dropped from all courses in a semester, this is considered a withdrawal from the semester and the university for that term. There are specific drop and withdrawal deadlines each semester. Be aware dropping a course may impact percentage of refund. Students can check the deadlines on the University's Academic Calendars.

Under the Federal Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), the University is strictly limited on what it can share with parents about student progress. Details can be found on our Federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act page.
Since the University “shares” a dual credit student with the high school, information that cannot be released to parents may be shared with school leadership. Students have the option of filing a FERPA Release Waiver that allows parents access to their academic records. This waiver only includes those records associated with a student’s Academic Record (i.e. admission, registration, financial aid, student account/billing, enrollment, grades, TSI.) It does not authorize access to records concerning Counseling, Housing, Student Conduct/Disciplinary Records or Title IX. Information regarding Couseling, Housing, Conduct or Title IX must be requested through their respective offices. This waiver must be initiated by the student and approved by the student and filed with the East Texas A&M's Registrar Office (some exclusions apply).

Final Exams

The semester typically ends with administration of the final examination. Due to the fluctuating schedules of a high school campus, dual credit instructors are given the leeway to give final exams during Final Exam Week as published in the Academic Calendar, based on their regular class schedule. Instructors should follow any final exam directives from academic departments.

If the instructor is teaching an online course, unless they've been given a schedule by the department head or dean, you may decide when to schedule your final exam as long as it is completed within the week of final exams and ample time is given for grading and submitting final grades by the due date.
Grades are calculated, and then turned in by the instructor to the University. Moving from a fall to spring semester or spring to next fall, a thorough grade check is done after final grades post to determine who is eligible to move on to spring semester courses. Students who are eligible to move on are registered for those courses prior to the holiday break or in early January or before summer break for upcoming fall term. Students who are ineligible will not be continued on into the next dual credit course. High school leadership will work to adjust their high school schedule.
Instructor Core Curriculum Assessment (Artifacts) Requirements

The University's accreditor, SACSCOC and the State of Texas require annual assessments of core curriculum courses. Each fall and spring, assessment artifacts from student work on a fall/spring assignment must be collected to fulfill this requirement. Each instructor teaching a core course being assessed must submit a designated number of assessment artifacts for the designated term.

The Core Curriculum program at East Texas A&M embodies the characteristics and purposes of the University. With both professional and liberal arts programs, East Texas A&M recognizes general education as a necessary component in the development of all students. The general education which takes place in the Core Curriculum program is, therefore, not only compatible with specialization, but is the context in which specialization occurs.

The Student Learning Outcomes, or SLOs, for the Undergraduate Core Curriculum are

  1. Critical Thinking – Students will be able to analyze, evaluate, or solve problems when given a set of circumstances, data, texts, or art.
  2. Oral/Visual Communication – Students will communicate in a manner appropriate to audience and occasion with an evident message and organizational structure.
  3. Empirical/Quantitative Reasoning – Students will be able to interpret, test, and demonstrate principles revealed in empirical data and/or observable facts.
  4. Teamwork – Students will be able to work together toward a shared purpose relevant to the course or discipline with a sense of shared responsibility for meeting that purpose.
  5. Personal Responsibility – Students will understand and practice academic honesty.
  6. Social Responsibility – Students will demonstrate an understanding of societal and/or civic issues.
    The Texas Core Curriculum requires students to complete thirty-six hours of coursework from a broad variety of disciplines across eight Foundational Component Areas. Another six hours that meet requirements for any one of the Foundational Component Areas are also required, but institutions are allowed to select those six hours to meet institutional priorities and mission. This six hour element of the Texas Core Curriculum is called the Component Area Option. Completion of the Core Curriculum, either from the current block of courses offered at East Texas A&M, or through Generic Transfer Equivalent Courses transferred in must total forty-two semester hours.
    Dr. Derrick McKisick, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of History, serves as the University's Core Curriculum Coordinator, [email protected]. The Director of Secondary Partnerships and Inititatives works with Dr. McKisick to collect required assessment artifacts each semester. Additional information concerning assessment artifacts and FAQs may be found at this link: Core Curriculum Assessment Table and FAQs.pdf

Policies and Procedures

Instructor Onboarding

Instructors must complete all required hiring steps as soon as possible, including employment application (for instructors hired by East Texas A&M), information request, background check, Workday hiring tasks (Workday can only be accessed 45 days before start date), I-9 verification (if required) before his/her unique identification number (UIN) and campus-wide identification number (CWID) can be issued. Instructors must have their UIN/CWID before system access can be granted for D2L Brightspace (our Learning Management System), University email address, and other systems needed, therefore, it is imperative to complete all Human Resource/hiring steps to expedite onboarding processes. Instructors will receive communications from Human Resources and the Administrative Associate for Secondary Partnerships & Initiatives.

Syllabus, CV & Course Materials

Each dual credit course is governed by a syllabus. East Texas A&M syllabi are required to provide detailed and consistent information that includes but is not limited to information about the course—everything from books required, class policies to assignments, and other university polices on student conduct, plagiarism, academic honesty.
Syllabi are public records and available to view on the University website. You can use the syllabus to help monitor your student's progress. Instructors will receive the approved University syllabus template from either the academic department head (designee) or Administrative Associate for Secondary Partnerships & Initiatives when the instructor has completed all Human Resource requirements. The Course syllabi are due 14 days prior to the start of the semester/term. East Texas A&M's syllabi policy may be viewed here: 12.01.99.R0.05 Guidelines for Content and Distribution of Syllabi: Roles and Responsibilities of Faculty.

Course Materials

In conjunction with the TAC 4.84: TAC 4.84 Dual Credit Partnerships, which requires school districts and higher education institutions to consider using free or low-cost open educational resources (OER) in courses offered for dual credit, several academic departments use free OER in their courses. In addition, Inclusive Access course material allows students easy and early access to required course materials at a lower cost. Inclusive Access charges are incorporated into the student's University bill. Students may opt out of the IA charges, but must then get the course materials on their own. However, some departments, require the use of the IA material in their courses. One example is courses for ENG 1301 and 1302. TopHat is the IA vendor for these courses and the one-time IA fee covers the course material for both courses. Students taking these courses must opt-in to the IA fee.
Instructors should consult the academic department head of their courses for guidance on course materials and textbooks.

myLeo Online/D2L (Learning Management System)

myLeo Online is our LMS, powered by D2L Brightspace. Instructors are required to utilize D2L for dual credit courses. SACS and State record retention requires institutions to retain student assignments, grades, etc. for specified periods of time. New instructors may request to copy the course shell of another instructor by completing the Faculty D2L Course Copy Request form.
Our Academic Technology department is available to do individual sessions to assist instructors with setting up their D2L course(s). Instructors may email [email protected] for assistance or an individual session. Additional instructor D2L resources with helpful videos, instructions, etc. are located at Internal Resources.

Students with Disabilities

Just as public schools are bound by the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA, 1975); the University must comply with Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act (1973) and Americans with Disabilities Act (1990)
Section 504 and ADA are applied differently at the University level. At the University level, ADA requires proof the disability, its extent, and then appropriate accommodations. Students must initiate this process.

Student Disability Services

Instructors are obliged to comply with those accommodations. A student's 504 file and process can inform, but not govern, their dual credit courses. The University's established disability processes must be followed and often a more limited set of interventions results.

Student Disability Services serves as a resource for the individual student, and if need be, an advocate. As University students, participants in dual credit are entitled to access to University disability services. East Texas A&M's Office of Student Disability Services can be reached at (903) 886-5150 or www.etamu.edu/SDS or [email protected]). Students with disabilities should be connected with this office to start the process of seeking accommodation(s) from the University as quickly as possible. Once accommodations are approved, it is the student's responsibility to request and provide a letter of accommodation to their instructor.

Annual Evaluation of Adjunct Instructors

Annual Evaluation of Adjunct Faculty

The process for the annual evaluation of Adjunct Faculty and Graduate Assistants with teaching responsibilities (GATs) at East Texas A&M has two major goals: to provide (1) a system to facilitate the development of teaching and instruction and (2) an annual evaluation (review of performance) of teaching, instruction, and facilitation of student learning for the purpose of making decisions regarding the terms and conditions of the employment relationship between the University and the Adjunct Faculty members and GATs. Information regarding adjunct evaluations can be found in the Evaluation, Tenure and Promotion section of the Faculty Handbook.

Student Guidebook may be found on the Student Life page.
Student Code of Conduct, Concerns and Incident Reporting and other forms, may be found on the Students Rights and Responsibilities page.

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