A Model of Efficiency: Pre-College Credit and the State Apparatus

This article describes one program's adventures with pre-college credit initiatives and their wider implications for writing programs. We show that mandated state policy, determined largely by political and economic factors rather than by educational ones, regulates and constrains writing curriculum. Despite the many challenges to autonomy and program integrity posed by state interference, we argue that writing teachers and administrators can engage in coalition-building with various stakeholders--local businesses, faculty across disciplines, and students--to speak back to state encroachment on writing education.