Frequently Asked Questions

To establish a partnership with the UMSL Advanced Credit Program, a representative from the high school should send an inquiry to acp@umsl.edu. The ACP Director will work to develop a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the ACP and the school. This memorandum must be signed by the school principal.  

As outlined in the MOUs, the high school must also appoint a primary contact person who will communicate regularly with the ACP and approve student applications during the registration period.  

Teachers interested in offering dual credit at a partnered high school must then individually seek approval by sending a resume and graduate transcript to acp@umsl.edu.

The ability for a school to offer a particular course for dual credit depends on two factors: (1) the availability of a qualified instructor who is approved to teach the specific subject and course, and (2) the existence of a high school course that aligns with the UMSL curriculum. 

For a list of courses that can potentially be offered for dual credit, see Course List. Review the course names and descriptions and determine which ones are a likely match for courses offered at the high school. To confirm the alignment of the high school and UMSL curriculum, send a sample syllabus to the UMSL faculty liaison or, if unknown, to acp@umsl.edu. The UMSL faculty liaison will either confirm that the course aligns with UMSL’s curriculum or suggest changes.  

Class offerings should be communicated to the Student Support Specialist, who will ensure that the courses are added to the schedule and available for students to register.

To teach a dual credit course through the UMSL Advanced Credit Program, the instructor’s high school must first have an established MOU with the ACP.  

Further, the instructor must also meet the necessary qualifications. All ACP dual credit instructors are qualified and meet the criteria of the Higher Learning Commission and the Missouri Department of Higher Education to offer courses for college credit. This typically requires teachers to have a master’s degree in their subject area or a master’s degree in a related field (such as education) with at least 18 graduate credit hours in their subject area.  

Interested teachers should send their resume and graduate transcript to acp@umsl.edu. Their documents will then be forwarded to an UMSL faculty member from the appropriate department. This faculty liaison will review the documents and initiate the approval process.  

If approved, teachers will be expected to attend a New Teacher Orientation session, which will outline the expectations and responsibilities for teaching dual credit. For more information, see ACP Policies.

In addition to attending a one-time New Teacher Orientation and one-time FERPA training before they begin teaching, teachers must complete the following every academic year: 

• Create, maintain and provide their ACP liaison with an approved syllabus each semester that a course is offered. 

• Communicate and cooperate with their ACP liaison in order to facilitate classroom observations. 

• Provide an up-to-date copy of an assessment tool each semester that a course is offered. 

• Verify course rosters in a timely manner. 

• Submit grades to MyView no later than two weeks after the last class meeting. 

• Facilitate completion of online course evaluations provided by the ACP. 

• Attend at least one ACP-approved professional development seminar, workshop or conference in order to remain current on content specific issues, UMSL and ACP policies and protocols per academic year. 

Yes, teachers who do not yet meet the necessary qualifications can take additional courses at UMSL.  

The ACP offers Professional Development scholarships specifically to help non-ACP instructors become qualified to teach ACP courses. Scholarship forms are allotted to schools based on their enrollment totals in the previous academic year. Each form can cover the cost of one 3-credit-hour graduate course at UMSL. Interested instructors should reach out to their high school’s dual credit coordinator to obtain these forms. Schools can distribute their allotted scholarships to teachers at their discretion. 

Alternatively, current ACP instructors earn Partner Scholarships based on their current enrollment totals. Partner Scholarships can either be used by ACP instructors to further their own education or can be transferred to a non-ACP teacher. Like Professional Development scholarships, Partner Scholarships can cover the cost of a 3-credit-hour graduate course at UMSL. Non-ACP teachers may consider asking a current ACP teacher if they have a Partner Scholarship available for the current year.  

All scholarships must be used in the academic year they are awarded and cannot be banked for future use. 

See Teachers Scholarships for more information.

The answer depends. ACP Adjuncts only need to submit one final letter grade per UMSL course. However, some year-long high school courses are equivalent to two UMSL courses, while other year-long high school courses are only equivalent to one UMSL course. 

For example, a full year of high school US history is often equivalent to UMSL HIST 1001 and HIST 1002. In this case, the adjunct would likely need to submit grades for HIST 1001 in December and grades for HIST 1002 in May.  

By contrast, a full year of high school Spanish 3 is usually considered equivalent to UMSL SPANISH 1001. In this case, the adjunct would only need to submit final letter grades in May.

Because UMSL’s scheduling system is built around semester-long courses, and the ACP uses the same scheduling system as the rest of UMSL, ACP courses cannot appear under more than one term in MyView. Otherwise, it would appear as though students repeated the same UMSL course twice. 

Yearlong ACP courses will only appear under the semester in which students register. For example, a yearlong SPANISH 1001 course that registers in Fall will only appear in MyView under the Fall term. These courses are given a special course attribute that stretches the grade deadline to May. Though the class only appears under one term, it represents the entire year of coursework.