Michigan joined Arkansas, Indiana, Massachusetts, Oregon, and Rhode Island in the high school reform effort. The Michigan Merit Curriculum (MMC), mandated in 2006, contained a new set of statewide graduation requirements. This qualitative case study used focus group interviews to examine the perceptions of students, teachers, parents, and key administrators in a southeastern Michigan high school about the effects of the MMC on students’ performances and outcomes as they relate to Career and Technical Education (CTE) and dual enrollment, and about problems that emerged from the MMC. Five themes emerged from the data: Transparency and Communication for Dual Enrollment, Loss of CTE and Elective Programs, Acceptance of the Status Quo, Need for Flexibility, and Support for CTE, Jobs, and Careers. Recommendations for practice included expanding and promoting CTE courses and program offerings for students in the high school and offering (MMC) academic credit in CTE classes. Other recommendations included expansion of articulated and escrowed college credit offered in CTE courses, communicating the criteria to all stakeholders, expanding the advancedplacement course offerings to students, and expanding and promoting interventions currently offered to students to help them meet the MMC requirements. Other recommendations included making the MMC more functional and applicable for a wider range of students, tracking and following all cohorts of MMC graduates, and assembling or reconvening groups to make adjustments to the MMC policy. Further, schools and school districts need to follow the rules related to dual enrollment as stated in the Postsecondary Enrollment Options Act of 1996 and to offer an incentive similar to the Promise Scholarship to students who meet the MMC requirements.
","abstract_html":"<p>Michigan joined Arkansas, Indiana, Massachusetts, Oregon, and Rhode Island in the high school reform effort. The Michigan Merit Curriculum (MMC), mandated in 2006, contained a new set of statewide graduation requirements. This qualitative case study used focus group interviews to examine the perceptions of students, teachers, parents, and key administrators in a southeastern Michigan high school about the effects of the MMC on students’ performances and outcomes as they relate to Career and Technical Education (CTE) and dual enrollment, and about problems that emerged from the MMC. Five themes emerged from the data: Transparency and Communication for Dual Enrollment, Loss of CTE and Elective Programs, Acceptance of the Status Quo, Need for Flexibility, and Support for CTE, Jobs, and Careers. Recommendations for practice included expanding and promoting CTE courses and program offerings for students in the high school and offering (MMC) academic credit in CTE classes. Other recommendations included expansion of articulated and escrowed college credit offered in CTE courses, communicating the criteria to all stakeholders, expanding the advancedplacement course offerings to students, and expanding and promoting interventions currently offered to students to help them meet the MMC requirements. Other recommendations included making the MMC more functional and applicable for a wider range of students, tracking and following all cohorts of MMC graduates, and assembling or reconvening groups to make adjustments to the MMC policy. Further, schools and school districts need to follow the rules related to dual enrollment as stated in the Postsecondary Enrollment Options Act of 1996 and to offer an incentive similar to the Promise Scholarship to students who meet the MMC requirements.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Green, Winifred L."],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Doctor of Education (EdD)","degree_level":"Open Access Dissertation","degree_discipline":"Leadership and Counseling","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Dr. Eboni Zamani-Gallaher (Chair)","Dr. Dibya Choudhuri","Dr. Gary Marx"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2012,"date_issued":"2012-01-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2012-01-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:16:44Z","subjects":["Michigan merit curriculum","southeastern Michigan high school","dual enrollment","college credit","Education"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://commons.emich.edu/theses/382","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Dr. Eboni Zamani-Gallaher (Chair)","Dr. Dibya Choudhuri","Dr. Gary Marx"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Green, Winifred L."]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2012-05-03T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Leadership and Counseling"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Open Access Dissertation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Doctor of Education (EdD)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Michigan merit curriculum","southeastern Michigan high school","dual enrollment","college credit","Education"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://commons.emich.edu/theses/382"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Michigan joined Arkansas, Indiana, Massachusetts, Oregon, and Rhode Island in the high school reform effort. The Michigan Merit Curriculum (MMC), mandated in 2006, contained a new set of statewide graduation requirements. This qualitative case study used focus group interviews to examine the perceptions of students, teachers, parents, and key administrators in a southeastern Michigan high school about the effects of the MMC on students’ performances and outcomes as they relate to Career and Technical Education (CTE) and dual enrollment, and about problems that emerged from the MMC. Five themes emerged from the data: Transparency and Communication for Dual Enrollment, Loss of CTE and Elective Programs, Acceptance of the Status Quo, Need for Flexibility, and Support for CTE, Jobs, and Careers. Recommendations for practice included expanding and promoting CTE courses and program offerings for students in the high school and offering (MMC) academic credit in CTE classes. Other recommendations included expansion of articulated and escrowed college credit offered in CTE courses, communicating the criteria to all stakeholders, expanding the advancedplacement course offerings to students, and expanding and promoting interventions currently offered to students to help them meet the MMC requirements. Other recommendations included making the MMC more functional and applicable for a wider range of students, tracking and following all cohorts of MMC graduates, and assembling or reconvening groups to make adjustments to the MMC policy. Further, schools and school districts need to follow the rules related to dual enrollment as stated in the Postsecondary Enrollment Options Act of 1996 and to offer an incentive similar to the Promise Scholarship to students who meet the MMC requirements.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Perceptions regarding the Michigan merit curriculum reform policy and its impact on CTE and dual enrollment in a southeastern Michigan high school"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Dr. Eboni Zamani-Gallaher (Chair)","Dr. Dibya Choudhuri","Dr. Gary Marx"],"dc:creator":["Green, Winifred L."],"dc:date.available":["2012-05-03T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["Michigan joined Arkansas, Indiana, Massachusetts, Oregon, and Rhode Island in the high school reform effort. The Michigan Merit Curriculum (MMC), mandated in 2006, contained a new set of statewide graduation requirements. This qualitative case study used focus group interviews to examine the perceptions of students, teachers, parents, and key administrators in a southeastern Michigan high school about the effects of the MMC on students’ performances and outcomes as they relate to Career and Technical Education (CTE) and dual enrollment, and about problems that emerged from the MMC. Five themes emerged from the data: Transparency and Communication for Dual Enrollment, Loss of CTE and Elective Programs, Acceptance of the Status Quo, Need for Flexibility, and Support for CTE, Jobs, and Careers. Recommendations for practice included expanding and promoting CTE courses and program offerings for students in the high school and offering (MMC) academic credit in CTE classes. Other recommendations included expansion of articulated and escrowed college credit offered in CTE courses, communicating the criteria to all stakeholders, expanding the advancedplacement course offerings to students, and expanding and promoting interventions currently offered to students to help them meet the MMC requirements. Other recommendations included making the MMC more functional and applicable for a wider range of students, tracking and following all cohorts of MMC graduates, and assembling or reconvening groups to make adjustments to the MMC policy. Further, schools and school districts need to follow the rules related to dual enrollment as stated in the Postsecondary Enrollment Options Act of 1996 and to offer an incentive similar to the Promise Scholarship to students who meet the MMC requirements.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://commons.emich.edu/theses/382"],"dc:subject":["Michigan merit curriculum","southeastern Michigan high school","dual enrollment","college credit","Education"],"dc:title":["Perceptions regarding the Michigan merit curriculum reform policy and its impact on CTE and dual enrollment in a southeastern Michigan high school"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Leadership and Counseling"],"thesis:degree_level":["Open Access Dissertation"],"thesis:degree_name":["Doctor of Education (EdD)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:16:44Z"}