Wawasee High School students Joseph Lyles, left, and Zach McKee are using a computer in Allen Coblentz’s civil engineering and architecture class to design a library. The class is one of several at Wawasee where students can earn both high school and college credits.

Today’s highly competitive job market more often requires schooling beyond a high school diploma. Skills are needed now that weren’t even known of a generation ago.

Statistics also show the college graduation rate in Indiana, at least for those who have four years of college, is below 40 percent, though the percentage does increase for those with five years of college. The challenge facing Indiana high schools is to get more students ready for either college or to enter the workforce.

One option being used at Wawasee High School is to provide more opportunities for students to earn college credits, at a reduced cost, before they receive their high school diploma. More emphasis is being placed on students earning dual credits, and more dual credit classes are being added each year, said Mike Schmidt, principal at WHS.

Wawasee has entered into agreements with IPFW, Vincennes, IUSB, Grace College, Purdue and Ivy Tech to offer courses where students can earn college credits if they meet the requirements set by the participating college. Teachers are required to apply to teach dual credit courses and once approved, they are considered adjunct professors and have access to that college’s resources.

Several dual credit courses are offered at Wawasee including civil engineering and architecture, economics, agribusiness management, criminal justice, culinary arts, precision machine tech and many others. Beginning with the 2014-15 academic year, a professor from Grace College will come to WHS to teach the Young Entrepreneurs Academy. And through the Conexus program, introduction to manufacturing and logistics and advanced manufacturing courses will be offered. Students would be able to earn as many as 18 college credits and enter the workforce with a professional certification.

Students can also earn college credits by taking advanced placement classes that are equivalent to college courses and scoring a 3, 4 or 5 on the AP test. AP classes include biology, calculus, chemistry, physics and others.

Schmidt noted this has been one of his priorities since returning to the school as an administrator a few years ago. “We want students to get as many college credits as they can before leaving here,” he said, adding it is possible to have a semester’s worth of college credits before graduating from high school. And a goal is to have 25 percent of the student population to be enrolled in either an AP or dual credit course, which was exceeded last year with 41 percent.

Giving students chances to take college level courses can encourage them to enroll in a college after high school when previously they may not have considered it. “Students get a taste of college and see their success,” he said. “It makes it less intimidating to them and they see they can do it.” And the intent is to challenge students to be more productive in high school and “make the most of their high school experience,” he added.

Another motivation is the letter grades assigned to schools by the Indiana Department of Education are based in part on a school’s college and career readiness score.

Response to the dual credit course offerings has been encouraging. For one example, Schmidt noted 63 students enrolled in the pre-calculus algebra course that was first offered this academic year.

Six dual credit classes are being added for next year with two others pending. “Our goal is to add two classes per year until we can’t anymore,” he said, noting no new teachers are being added and dual credit courses must be balanced with existing classes.