Dual enrollment programs are increasing college enrollment and completion by giving K-12 students a head start on higher education or job preparation 鈥� but low-income students and those in underrepresented racial and ethnic groups have far less access to such programs. Yet if colleges partner with K-12 schools to actively recruit underrepresented students and provide them with high-quality instruction and advising, they can close equity gaps in access and help those students get on a path to college and career success in high school.
Those are the findings of a new report released in early October by 精东影业鈥檚 (CCRC) and The Aspen Institute.
[Read the , co-authored by 颁颁搁颁鈥檚 (Senior Research Scholar), (Senior Research Associate) and (Senior Research Scholar and Research Professor in the Education Policy & Social Analysis Department at 精东影业), with Gelsey Mehl and Joshua Wyner of The Aspen Institute.]
CUMULATIVE EFFORT The CCRC researchers who co-authored the report (from left, Elizabeth Barnett, John Fink and Davis Jenkins) built on 颁颁搁颁鈥檚 鈥済uided pathways鈥� approach to supporting community college students. (Photos: TC Archives)
Like Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate programs, dual enrollment programs, first popularized in the 1990s, provide rigorous coursework and college preparation. But they are unique in allowing students to take actual college courses, often on the postsecondary institution鈥檚 campus, taught by a college instructor. Initially reserved for advanced students, dual enrollment programs now enroll a broader group of high school students.
The number of dual enrollment programs and participants has grown significantly in the past two decades: An estimated 2 million high school students across the country enroll in dual enrollment courses every year, up from 1.4 million a decade ago, according to CCRC.
Studies have shown that students who complete dual enrollment courses are more likely than others to graduate from high school and to enroll in and finish a post-secondary program.
However, the new report finds that, while, on average, 12 percent of White students participate in dual enrollment partnerships with neighboring community colleges, only eight percent of Hispanic students do and just seven percent of Black students. Only one in five dual enrollment programs has been successful in narrowing or eliminating race and income gaps in access for their participants.
Thus the very students who might benefit the most from taking free college courses while they鈥檙e still in high school and shortening their path to a post-high school degree or certificate have by and large not benefited from their aggressive growth. Not every state funds dual enrollment, and even in states that do, there are sometimes costs attached. Even so, dual enrollment programs represent 鈥渢he largest free college program by far,鈥� says 颁颁搁颁鈥檚 Davis Jenkins.
Still, in their study of the approximately 950 dual enrollment programs with community colleges across the country, the researchers also offer both hope and strategies for improvement: 鈥淭hese K-12 and community college partnerships show that it is possible to close equity gaps when intentional strategy is paired with innovation and commitment.鈥�
[Some] K-12 and community college partnerships show that it is possible to close equity gaps when intentional strategy is paired with innovation and commitment.
鈥� The Dual Enrollment Playbook: A Guide to Equitable Acceleration for Students
The study highlights nine successful programs in Florida, Ohio and Washington State, distilling five principles that each has followed to improve equity:
- Set a shared vision and goals that prioritize equity
- Expand equitable access
- Connect students to advising and supports that ensure equitable outcomes
- Provide high-quality instruction that builds students鈥� competence and confidence
- Organize teams and develop relationships to maximize potential
For example, instead of limiting the programs to high-performing students, Bridgeport High School in central Washington automatically enrolls all students 鈥� including special education students 鈥� in accelerated coursework taught by high school teachers who are qualified to teach college courses.
After establishing a culture in which a wide range of students see college and accelerated programs as desirable and possible for them, successful programs support that culture by providing advising and other supports that 鈥渆nsure equitable student outcomes,鈥� the report says. Steubenville High School in Eastern Ohio increased dual enrollment of Black, Latinx and low-income students by providing free placement testing and retesting for all eighth graders. And 鈥渃ounselors at Emerald Ridge High School [south of Tacoma, Washington] meet with 10th-graders individually to help them select from four types of accelerated options based on their interests and plans after high school.鈥�
By providing high-quality instruction, successful dual enrollment programs 鈥渃ollaborate to ensure that dual enrollment courses meet quality standards no matter where or by whom they are taught.鈥� Students ultimately are 鈥渙riented to college-style teaching and norms鈥� and curricula are 鈥渃ulturally responsive to all populations.鈥�
The report continues 颁颁搁颁鈥檚 multi-year work on the 鈥済uided pathways鈥� approach to supporting community college students. That model 鈥� advanced by Thomas Bailey, who founded and directed CCRC before becoming President of 精东影业, Jenkins and 颁颁搁颁鈥檚 Shanna Smith Jaggars in (2015, Harvard University Press) 鈥� departs from 鈥渃afeteria-style鈥� approaches in which underserved middle and high school students must choose from hundreds of programs and courses with little counseling and support.
As dual enrollment grows, we must ensure it does not become a program of privilege that serves primarily white and affluent students.
鈥� The Dual Enrollment Playbook: A Guide to Equitable Acceleration for Students
The CCRC/ Aspen 鈥淧laybook鈥� shows that, when well designed and supported dual enrollment and counseling programs are made available to them, students as young as fifth grade start seeing college or professional training as not only possible, but desirable. 鈥淭he issue is not really academic readiness, it鈥檚 motivation,鈥� says Jenkins, invoking the education philosopher John Dewey. 鈥淭hese students have been told, 鈥榶ou鈥檙e not college material.鈥欌��
The 鈥淧laybook鈥� is an answer to that claim. Its authors assert that 鈥渢he rapid growth of dual enrollment offers an unprecedented opportunity to deliver college-level education to millions more high school students. If community colleges and high schools get it right, many more students of every race, ethnicity, and income level will experience greater academic rigor and arrive at college with a head start toward earning a degree. The hope in that vision seems especially important at a moment when the United States faces acute crises in the economy, public health, and racial justice.
鈥淎s dual enrollment grows,鈥� they conclude, 鈥渨e must ensure it does not become a program of privilege that serves primarily white and affluent students.鈥�