The courses are free, and enrollment is growing.

At Central Falls high school, English teacher Deloris Grant hands out copies of Robert Browning’s poem, “My Last Duchess.”

“You’re going to have to read the poem at least two or three times,” Grant said to the class.

Grant teaches a college level literature course to a room full of high school seniors. The class is part of a push championed by Governor Gina Raimondo to get more students ready for college.

“When you get your poem next year when you are in school, in college, the professor is not going to go through the poem with you,” said Grant. “To begin analyzing difficult text on their own, and asking questions.”

Some of the students in Grant’s class will be the first in their families to attend college, if they continue their studies after high school. They meet with college professors at the beginning of every school year as they plan their lessons.

Holly Shodoian oversees the dual enrollment program for Rhode Island College.

“One might think that, well oh, because they are taking it in high school, that everyone gets an A,” said Shodoian. There’s a broad range of grades in terms of what students earn, or the level that they’ve achieved.”

RIC and other public colleges in Rhode Island have agreed to give credit to students taking these courses in their high schools. Shodoian hoped the experience will encourage more high school students to make college the next step.

“I think sometimes for a student to be able to say, ‘I finished this course.’ “So yeah, I feel prepared.”

Whether Nousek is prepared will be a question for his college professors to answer next year.

But a study out of Columbia University found high schoolers who take dual enrollment courses are more likely to succeed when they get to college.

The Rhode Island program currently enrolls more than 3,000 students.