Early college credit programs as predictors of postsecondary student success.

Early college credit programs (ECCPs), such as AP, dual enrollment, and IB programs, were created to provide more challenging college-level coursework to academically advanced high school students. Educators and policymakers have encouraged high school students to participate in these programs with the goals of being prepared academically for college, saving money on tuition by earning college credits early, and speeding up time to postsecondary graduation. The purpose of this study was to examine likelihood of postsecondary first-year retention and graduation timeframe as a result of participating in — and earning credits from — these programs. Participants of this study included 2,329 students who were grouped into the 2013 student cohort at the University of Louisville. Analyses used propensity score-matched (PSM) and unmatched samples, and results showed that students who participated in ECCPs were more likely to be retained in their first year. ECCP participants also had better odds of graduating early and on-time compared to students who did not participate. Among the ECCP programs, students who participated in combined AP and dual enrollment coursework had better odds of graduating early and on-time compared to students who did not participate.