Students successfully completing the program will receive 17 semester hours of college credit in addition to their high school credit. An "on-campus advisor" will serve as "coordinator" between the high schools and college, handling such matters as attendance, grading and field trips. The course work will also include job shadowing and internships.

Despite the assurances of education officials around the country that School-to-Work/Careers programs are "voluntary," and that the goal of business/education "partnerships" and unelected "workforce boards" is not to channel children into specific jobs to meet labor force needs, one of the admitted purposes of the Illinois program is to "address the shortage of qualified manufacturing employees."

Dual credit programs are compatible with Marc Tucker's vision of our education system, which he outlined in his 18-page letter to Hillary Clinton in 1992. Page 9 reads in part: "The system we are proposing will be managed so as to encourage the states to combine the last two years of high school and the first two years of community college into three-year programs leading to college degrees and certificates." (The Tucker letter is available here)