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What You Need to Know

As a high school counselor, you play a vital role in helping your students land on their feet after high school. Community and technical colleges are a great launching pad for a promising future.
Students attending community and technical colleges get an outstanding education, save money and have the chance to explore where they want to go in life: straight into a job or into a university. In fact, about half of all public-college students in Washington state are enrolled in community and technical colleges.
To successfully guide your students into making the right college choices, please take time to be aware of all that your local college has to offer. You will likely discover that college is a perfect fit for many of your students.

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Thousands of Washington state students get a jump start on college by earning college credit while they're still in high school. Dual credit programs include Running Start, CTE Dual Credit and International Baccalaureate and Advanced Placement courses.

11th graders who score at a college-ready level on the Smarter Balanced Assessment (level 3 or 4) can bypass the traditional college placement tests, such as COMPASS and ACCUPLACER, and place automatically into entry-level college math and English courses. This applies to community and technical colleges and public four-year universities alike. At many high schools, students who score lower can take senior-year "Bridge to College Courses" to catch up in 12th grade.