Editorial: Earning credit

One of the Clark County School District’s bright spots has been a program that allows students to enroll in community college classes while they are still in high school. The dual track helps juniors and seniors bank higher education credits before they graduate, giving them a head start on college while also saving tuition costs.

Now a similar program will also be available to local home-school families, thanks to a deal between an education advocacy group and Western Nevada College in Carson City.

Western Nevada’s three-year old Jump Start program includes 15 Nevada high schools and two charter schools in Clark County. High school kids who take part may earn up to 60 credits at the school over two years. John Kinkella, dean of students at Western Nevada, says those in Jump Start are among the school’s top performers.

“They outperform every group at the college,” he told Review-Journal reporter Neal Morton, noting that almost 97 percent of participants completed their coursework in the 2015 spring semester.

Western Nevada’s new arrangement with Clark County home-schoolers will be offered through the Rise Education Resource Center, which promotes home-schooling and other alternatives to the public school system. Classes will include 12-20 students and orientation will begin next week.

Thousands of Clark County public school students have benefited from getting a taste for community college academic standards while wrapping up their studies in high school. Expanding that opportunity to include students taught by their parents makes eminent sense.