Building a Future is the Kansas Board of Regents' strategic plan for the state's higher education system. It centers the work of Kansas colleges and universities on serving the state and its needs.

		Background The Regents developed Building a Future to meet the needs of Kansas based on input from Kansans. The Board began the strategic planning process by meeting with Kansans in communities across the state to ask how higher education could help them. During meetings with students, parents, employers, and business and community leaders, a clear picture emerged of how Kansas colleges and universities could help families and businesses meet their aspirations and build a prosperous future for the state. Kansas families wanted higher education to be affordable and accessible and to help them succeed in their careers. Businesses asked colleges and universities to build a robust talent pipeline and help drive innovation. In conjunction with leaders across the state's public higher education system, the Board developed Building a Future around three pillars - helping Kansas families, supporting Kansas businesses and advancing prosperity in the state. Areas of Focus Each pillar with Building a Future contains areas of focus that help direct the system's efforts. Families: Affordability, Access and Success Businesses: Talent Pipeline and Innovation Prosperity: Intentional Economic Development and Community Benefits Promising Practices Building a Future is unique in its inclusion of promising practices. These serve to establish a roadmap for achieving the objectives in the strategic plan. Each year the Board adopts annual goals that help drive implementation of these practices. Measuring Progress To monitor the system's progress towards achieving the aims established in Building a Future, the Board adopted a series of metrics. Nearly five years into the plan, these metrics are showing excellent results with increases in affordability and access, improved outcomes for Kansas students, better retention of talent in the state, significant growth of the research enterprise and a host of benefits for Kansas communities. The Board's strategic plan dashboard provides different ways to view and break down the metrics used to track progress within each area of focus. A Comprehensive Plan Building a Future provides a framework for all of the work of the Board and the system. The development of the annual unified appropriations request, adoption of Board goals, governance initiatives and more are all guided by the plan's pillars - Helping Kansas families, Supporting Kansas Businesses and Advancing Prosperity.

Learn More About Building a Future's Pillars

Pillar I: Read more about what actions the Board is taking to help Kansas families with affordability, access and success and learn about the outcomes of those efforts.

Pillar II: Discover how the Board is supporting Kansas businesses with a robust talent pipeline and innovation and see the progress that has been made.

Pillar III: Learn how the state's higher education system is advancing prosperity through economic development and support for Kansas communities.

Participation in postsecondary enrollment for high school students has grown consistently in Kansas since its creation in 1993 by state statute. Various dual credit options are available to high school students to earn college credit.  

The reports below summarize course enrollments by headcount and credit hours.

AY 2023 High School Postsecondary Enrollments
AY 2023 Concurrent/Dual/CTE Enrollment Report by Institution

Additional reports containing data for all high school enrollments are available within the Kansas Higher Education Statistics (KHEStats) tool under the Data tab on the KBOR homepage.  The High School tab contains data for high school students taking courses through concurrent enrollment, dual enrollment and Career and Technical Education (CTE). 

Policies are found in Chapter III, Section A of the Policy Manual.

Resources
Community College Research Center: Understanding Dual Enrollment (April 2024)

“Dual Credit Courses” as defined by the Higher Learning Commission are courses taught to high school students for which the students receive both high school and college credit and involve the accredited institution’s responsibility for the quality of its offerings. 

“Dual credit enrollment” is a subset of dual credit and means enrollment of high school students in dual credit courses, pursuant to a dual credit cooperative agreement. Courses are taught by a postsecondary educational institution faculty member in which students receive both high school credit and college credit for completing the course.

“Concurrent enrollment” is a subset of dual credit and means enrollment of high school students in dual credit courses, pursuant to a dual credit cooperative agreement. Courses are taught by high school teachers during the regular high school day in which students receive both high school credit and college credit for completing the course.

“Dual enrollment” means enrollment of high school students in college courses outside a cooperative agreement between the district and postsecondary institution entered pursuant to the Kansas Challenge to Secondary School Students Act, in which a transcript is issued for credit from the institution without regard to high school credit. All modes of delivery of academic offerings and all campus locations are appropriate for dual enrollment courses including main campus, additional locations, and distance delivery.

 “Student” means:
(1) is enrolled in grades 10, 11, or 12 maintained by a school district, or a gifted child who is enrolled in any of the grades 9 through 12 maintained by a school district;
(2) has an individualized plan of study or an individualized education program;
(3) has demonstrated the ability to benefit from participation in the regular curricula of eligible postsecondary institutions;
(4) has been authorized by the principal of the school attended to apply for enrollment at an eligible postsecondary educational institution; 
and (5) is acceptable or has been accepted for enrollment at an eligible postsecondary educational institution as a degree-seeking or non-degree seeking student. 

Dual Credit Cooperative Agreements

The Kansas Challenge to Secondary School Students Act, K.S.A. 72-3220 through 72-3224, (Challenge Act) provides a means for school districts, in cooperation with eligible postsecondary institutions, to challenge high school students by procuring early college opportunities. The Kansas Board of Regents encourages all system postsecondary institutions to collaborate with local school districts and provide dual credit opportunities to high school students through cooperative agreements entered pursuant to the Challenge Act. The Challenge Act does not mandate system postsecondary institutions to offer dual credit enrollment to students in local school districts. However, if an eligible system postsecondary institution chooses not to offer dual credit enrollment with local districts pursuant to the Challenge Act, in accordance with Board policy for Off-Campus Delivery of Academic Courses and Programs, the home institution shall allow eligible system postsecondary institutions outside the institution’s service area to provide the Challenge Act opportunities with those school districts. The Challenge Act requires academic credit granted for courses successfully completed by high school students to qualify as both high school and college credit, which is defined as dual credit by the Higher Learning Commission.  Board policy requires a dual credit cooperative agreement for all dual credit courses.

“Dual Credit Cooperative Agreement” means a written memorandum of understanding between an eligible postsecondary institution and a school district entered pursuant to the Kansas Challenge to Secondary School Students Act for the purpose of offering dual credit courses to eligible students who receive both high school credit and college credit.

“Dual Credit Courses” as defined by the Higher Learning Commission are courses taught to high school students for which the students receive both high school and college credit and involve the accredited institution’s responsibility for the quality of its offerings.

 Policies are found in Chapter III, Section A of the Policy Manual.

sample Dual Credit cooperative agreement

	This fillable document serves as a sample Dual Credit Cooperative Agreement between a postsecondary institution and a school district. Institutions can customize this Agreement to meet their specific needs pursuant to the Kansas Challenge to Secondary School Students Act.
	Viewing this PDF from WSU Tech's partnership will demonstrate how Dual Credit Cooperative Agreements can be customized to meet specific needs and provide a written memorandum of understanding for eligible students to enroll in dual credit courses through the institution.