Dual credit, the approach by which students receive both high school and college credit for the same course, has received enormous attention in recent years. The original intent of dual credit was to provide more challenging curricula to academically prepared high school students. Over the past three decades, the target recipients of the program have expanded to include a wider range of students, including average and even under-achieving students. This brief describes the history and growth of the dual credit approach as well as the dual credit programs initiated on the institution and state levels. National level research studies on dual credit are also summarized.