The author claims that dual enrollment programs are here to stay and that collaboration and shared equity will allow these programs to continue to improve.

English faculty in community colleges feel pressured to make their composition courses acceptable for transfer to four-year schools. In particular, many of them feel obligated to emphasize academic research and argument at the expense of literature. But community college students will benefit from first-year courses that address a wide range of discourse by integrating literary study with writing instruction.

This article examines the ideological assumptions and practical consequences of recent state and federal attempts to standardize writing instruction at the secondary level, and it suggests alternative forms of assessment and classroom research available to teachers of composition in high school and college.