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The majority of school districts today have options available for students to be able to obtain college credit by taking select courses while they are still in high school and several Marion County youth are tacking advantage of this opportunity. In the Knoxville School District there are currently 254 college credit courses being taken by high school students with the majority of them in an agreement with Des Moines Area Community College. Knoxville students also have the opportunity to take online, concurrent enrollment or AP classes. Principal Kevin Crawford says the majority of students who are taking college credit courses are juniors or seniors though post secondary education options are also available to freshmen and sophomores.

According to Lowell Ernsts Pella Director of K-12 instruction the Pella Community School District there are currently 1,364 enrollments in college courses in the district, with some students taking more than one class. This are divided up four options including vocational college credit, liberal arts college credit, Project Lead the Way engineering credit and AP classes.

Knoxville Superintendent Dr. Randy Flack and Ernsts both agree that these courses are beneficial because they put the students ahead once they enter college and offer financial benefits because the courses are typically paid for by the school district.