The Dual Enrollment Playbook A Guide to Equitable Acceleration for Students EDUCATION & SOCIETY PROGRAM AUTHORS Gelsey Mehl, Joshua Wyner Elisabeth Barnett, John Fink, Davis Jenkins The Aspen Institute College Excellence Program Community College Research Center ACKNOWLEDGMENTS We would like to thank the many community college presidents, high school principals, superintendents, administrators, faculty, staff, students, and parents who generously shared their time, insights, and experiences as we developed this report. We also thank Danielle Gonzales and Eugene Pinkard Jr. of the Aspen Institute Education & Society program for their contributions to this research. Thank you for shaping our direction and frameworks, joining screening calls and site visits, and reviewing the findings and final publication. And at the Aspen Institute College Excellence Program, thank you to Alison Quint and Keith Witham for joining site visits, Yazmin Padilla for providing administrative support, and Linda Perlstein for editing this publication. Thank you to Veronica Minaya, Vivian Liu, and Soumya Mishra of the Community College Research Center and Di Xu of the University of California, Irvine for supporting the quantitative analysis to select the sites for fieldwork and for joining site visits. Thank you to Amy Brown at CCRC for providing input on culturally responsive teaching. Our appreciation goes to the members of the policy and research staffs at the Florida Department of Education, the Ohio Department of Education, and the Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges, who advised us on the research design, shared data with select sites, and gave us feedback on our preliminary findings. We gratefully acknowledge the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for supporting this publication. THE ASPEN INSTITUTE COLLEGE EXCELLENCE PROGRAM The Aspen Institute College Excellence Program aims to advance higher education practices, policies, and leadership that significantly improve student outcomes. Through the Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence and other initiatives, the College Excellence Program works to improve colleges’ understanding of and capacity to teach and graduate students, especially the growing population of low-income and minority students on American campuses. THE ASPEN INSTITUTE EDUCATION & SOCIETY PROGRAM The Aspen Institute Education & Society Program (Aspen Education) improves public education by inspiring, informing, and influencing education leaders to take action across policy and practice, with an emphasis on achieving equity for students of color and children from low-income backgrounds. Aspen Education supports leaders at all levels—from urban superintendents and their teams, to state chiefs and their cabinets, to elected officials and their staffers, to education support organizations, associations, nonprofits, and philanthropy. COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH CENTER The Community College Research Center at Columbia University’s Teachers College studies community colleges because they provide critical access to postsecondary education and are uniquely positioned to promote equity and social mobility in the United States. Its mission is to conduct research that helps these institutions strengthen opportunities and improve outcomes for their students, particularly those from underserved populations. Table of Contents INTRODUCTION 2 DESIGN PRINCIPLES FOR EQUITABLE DUAL ENROLLMENT PROGRAMS PRINCIPLE I: Set a shared vision and goals that prioritize equity 10 PRINCIPLE II: Expand equitable access 20 PRINCIPLE III: Connect students to advising and supports that 30 ensure equitable outcomes PRINCIPLE IV: Provide high-quality instruction that builds 40 students’ competence and confidence PRINCIPLE V: Organize teams and develop relationships 48 to maximize potential CONCLUSION 56 APPENDIX: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 58 2 THE DUAL ENROLLMENT PLAYBOOK Introduction Imagine a student we’ll call Ruby. Ruby is one of more and dreams. When she struggled in one college class, she than 1 million U.S. high schoolers participating in was shy to admit it, but her professor alerted her counselor, dual enrollment—that is to say, she’s enrolled in college and Ruby got the help she needed. courses while in high school, earning credits that count simultaneously toward her diploma and a college degree.1 Ruby graduated from high school as a college sophomore. Every one of her 30 dual enrollment credits counted This path has many benefits: more rigorous classes, toward her bachelor’s degree in her chosen major, saving exposure to college, a heightened sense of purpose, and her a year’s worth of college tuition and setting her on the savings of money and time. Research suggests that road to a great career. dual enrollment students are more likely than others to graduate from high school, enroll in college, and complete It doesn’t sound that complicated: Offer students college degrees.2 acceleration, get them on a college plan with credits that count, and support them along the way. It certainly sounds As a Latina student from a low-income family, with promising to school systems and community colleges, parents who didn’t go to college, Ruby doesn’t reflect which have doubled the size of their dual enrollment the majority of students in dual enrollment in a typical programs over eight years. And to state legislatures, school district, but she is a natural fit for the opportunity. which in 2019 alone enacted 37 bills expanding access to Her middle school teachers, committed to accelerating dual enrollment.3 While more students participate in the as many students as possible, placed her in advanced historically popular Advanced Placement (AP) program, math classes, and her high school teachers convinced her the growing interest in dual enrollment has expanded that accelerated options, and a college degree, were very opportunities for students to get on a path to a college much in reach. credential while in high school.4 Ruby was sold on the idea of taking more rigorous courses But as dual enrollment grows across the country, evidence for free and shaving time and money off her college shows that students, especially those who otherwise education. But she didn’t pass the math section of the might not have a clear path to postsecondary education, placement exam. Her counselor pushed her to try again are often shortchanged. They never learn about dual and got her into a boot camp to prepare for the test. Ruby enrollment; their parents can’t afford the tuition, fees, passed, and the first thing she did after signing up for dual or transportation to campus; their K-12 education didn’t enrollment was to sit with an advisor who mapped out a prepare them well enough; or they’re excluded altogether pathway, course by course, that matched Ruby’s interests from the opportunity. 1 The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System does not track participation in dual 3 Education Commission of the States. (2020). Dual Enrollment Access. enrollment. Our analysis of IPEDS data shows that more than 1.2 million students age 4 More than 2.8 million students took an AP exam in 2019. College Board. 17 and younger were enrolled in fall 2017. However, this category is only a proxy for dual Annual AP Program Participation 1956-2019. enrollment students and leaves out students enrolled in spring and summer. The most recent federal data shows that between the 2002-03 and 2010-11 school years, the number of dual enrollment participants nearly doubled, from 813,000 to 1.4 million. See Marken, S., Gray, L., & Lewis, L. (2013). Dual Enrollment Programs and Courses for High School Students at Postsecondary Institutions: 2010–11. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics. 2 What Works Clearinghouse. (2017). Dual Enrollment Programs. THE DUAL ENROLLMENT PLAYBOOK 3 Especially when they are from groups historically variation by race and income, across and within states and underrepresented in college, students can only accrue districts, in access to dual enrollment and postsecondary the full benefits of dual enrollment when programs are success of students who participate. On average, 12 deliberately designed to close equity gaps and effectively percent of white students participate in dual enrollment, executed. The Aspen Institute and the Community compared to 7 percent of Black students and 8 percent of College Research Center identified nine dual enrollment Hispanic students.6 programs in Florida, Ohio, and Washington that had high participation rates for historically underrepresented It is, however, possible to do better. One in five school students of color (which this report defines as Black, districts across the country have closed the gap in Latinx, Indigenous, and Pacific Islander students) and access to dual enrollment courses by race.7 The sites we strong outcomes for these students in course success, researched show that districts and colleges can deliver credit accumulation, and college enrollment and equitable access to and success in high-quality dual persistence.5 Field research revealed the partnerships, enrollment when intentional strategy is paired with practices, and policies that result in equitable innovation and commitment. access and success. This playbook details lessons for high school, district, Historically underrepresented students of color and and college leaders in ensuring that traditionally students from low-income backgrounds are more likely underrepresented students have equitable access to and than other students to attend segregated K-12 schools that success in high-quality dual enrollment programs. With don’t prepare them well for college. These disadvantages more than 1 million students counting on it, and even snowball, contributing to substantial and persistent more students missing out, it’s an opportunity we can’t inequities by race and ethnicity in educational outcomes, afford to ignore. n including degree completion and access to well-paying careers. Advanced coursework in high school can change the equation, by creating an easily accessible pathway to higher education. But dual enrollment can also exacerbate disadvantages when it is not designed with equity as a primary goal. As with other acceleration options, such as AP and International Baccalaureate (IB), there is substantial 5 Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we were only able to visit seven of these nine sites in 6 For a recent analysis of dual enrollment and AP participation nationally, see Xu, D., Fink, J., person. For the purposes of this research, “historically underrepresented students of color” & Solanki, S. (2019). College Acceleration for All? Mapping Racial/Ethnic Gaps in Advanced and “students of color” refers to Black, Latinx, Indigenous, and Pacific Islander students. Placement and Dual Enrollment Participation. New York, NY: Community College Research Most sites researched largely served Black or Latinx students. See the appendix for a full Center. For dual enrollment outcomes, see Fink, J., Jenkins, D., & Yanaguira, T. (2017). explanation of the research methodology. What Happens to Students who Take Community College “Dual Enrollment” Courses in High School? New York, NY: Community College Research Center. 7 In further analysis, the authors determined that 19 percent and 23 percent of school districts nationally had above-median rates of dual enrollment participation for Black and Hispanic students, respectively, and gaps of less than 1 percentage point compared to white students. Xu, D., Fink, J., & Solanki, S. College Acceleration for All?. 4 THE DUAL ENROLLMENT PLAYBOOK A STUDENT’S JOURNEY Ruby is a Latina student from a low-income family. She will be the first in her family to go to college. Ruby begins at an elementary school that offers all children an advanced curriculum Ruby continues advanced curriculum and trains teachers to infuse college-prep and college-prep programming. skills like note-taking and inquiry. Elementary Middle School School At school events and In 4th grade, Latinx Ruby’s principal, In 8th grade, Ruby in teacher meetings, college students having noted her GPA, enrolls in algebra, Ruby’s parents are visit Ruby’s suggests she attend a trajectory continually told classroom to talk an informational that makes it that their daughter about their paths, session about possible to take and her classmates and Ruby goes dual enrollment. college math have accessible on a field trip to a during high school. pathways to college. local college. THE DUAL ENROLLMENT PLAYBOOK 5 In 9th grade, Ruby Ruby’s professor and her classmates Ruby meets with an notices her struggling are invited to take advisor from the college in one course, reaches Ruby graduates high the college placement who visits her school out to her, and sends school with 30 college test (at no cost). She weekly. With her an alert to her high credits—a full year’s passes English, but advisor, Ruby selects school counselor. On worth. She’s honored not math. She attends a college program, their advice, Ruby at her high school afterschool prep picks two classes, and gets the help she graduation, and enrolls sessions, retakes the fits them into her high needs from the college full-time in college test, and passes math. school schedule. tutoring center. with a head start. High e School g e l l o C Ruby and her counselor Ruby and her classmates Ruby joins a campus club talk about Ruby’s take a bus twice a week for Latina students and career interests and to the college for dual starts to feel like a “real” college aspirations; enrollment classes. college student. the counselor encourages Ruby to take college courses during high school. 6 THE DUAL ENROLLMENT PLAYBOOK A PRIMER ON DUAL ENROLLMENT Dual enrollment refers to college classes taken by high progress toward a postsecondary degree or workforce Principle school students through a partnership with a college. credential. In some cases, dual enrollment students earn I In this publication, we focus on community college enough credits to graduate from high school with an courses, because most high school students taking associate degree. dual enrollment do so in partnership with community SET A colleges rather than four-year institutions.8 Funding structures and costs vary widely by state (and sometimes within states if the state offers more than one Dual enrollment courses include those aligned to program or devolves authority to localities). Students SdegreeHs and creAdentials iRn both liEberal arDts and may have to pay all program costs, including the standard workforce fields. Delivery can take many forms. college tuition, fees, and books, or the school, district, Eighty-six percent of dual enrollment students take college, and state may cover all or some of these costs. To classes at a high school, taught by a college instructor participate, students typically must meet certain eligibility Vor a highI scShool insItruOctor credeNntialed to teAach collegNe reDquiremen ts, which also vary by state policy and local classes. Some educators say that when dual enrollment agreements. These requirements can include an age or is located in the high school, teachers and counselors grade-level threshold; minimum grade-point average; can better monitor students’ behavior and progress and qualifying scores on a college placement test, PSAT, SAT, Gprovide sOupport wAhen needLed. It isS, they s ay, Ta good HAACT, or sTtate ass ess ment; and written approval from a intermediate step on the road to greater independence. teacher, counselor, principal, or parent. Seventeen percent of dual enrollment students take This publication does not address other models of PcoursesR on the cIollOege campRus from Ia coTllege inIstruZctor, Eaccele rati on, including AP, IB, the Cambridge Advanced and another 8 percent take them online.9 Some colleges International Certificate of Education Diploma (AICE), insist that most dual enrollment courses be taught on and early college high schools, a specific type of special- campus by college faculty, because this allows them to ized high school in which students take dual enrollment EQUITY maintain control over quality and rigor. They also believe courses as part of a curriculum that integrates high that when students are exposed to college campuses, school and college coursework.11 Many high schools classroom norms, and other college students, they offer a mix of acceleration options, though some focus can more easily acclimate to college and improve their on only one. Each of these programs differs in terms readiness to attend and succeed after high school.10 of content, college admissions benefits, and credit Finally, some high schools have agreements with accumulation, and each has its merits. For instance, community colleges that allow them to offer career students earn college credit from dual enrollment and technical education courses that will count toward with a passing grade in the course, whereas students future college credit. must receive a certain score on an AP exam to earn college credit. These dual enrollment credits may also While programs may also be described as “dual credit” be accepted more readily by in-state universities with or “concurrent enrollment,” we use the term “dual existing transfer agreements with community colleges, enrollment” to encompass all these options. Whatever while many selective colleges accept AP credits but not the name, these courses help students fulfill high school dual enrollment credits. graduation requirements and simultaneously make 8 Fink, J., Jenkins, D., & Yanaguira, T. What Happens to Students who Take Community 11 Research shows that early college high schools lead to strong postsecondary outcomes, College “Dual Enrollment” Courses in High School? especially for underrepresented students. This playbook does not include these schools 9 These numbers do not add to 100 percent because students may take courses at more than because there already is a wealth of literature on them and less on how to advance equity one location. See US Department of Education. (2019). Dual Enrollment: Participation and in dual enrollment overall. Also, the dual enrollment programs we examine here have the Characteristics. potential to serve many more students. 10 Karp, Melinda M. (2012). “‘I don’t know, I’ve never been to college!’ Dual enrollment as a college readiness strategy.” New Directions for Higher Education 2012, no. 158, 21–28. THE DUAL ENROLLMENT PLAYBOOK 7 Five Principles to Advance Equity in High-Quality Dual Enrollment dvancing equity in high-quality dual enrollment requires an intentional design aligned to certain principles. Simply A offering more classes is not enough. Nor is attaining equal outcomes in mediocre programs. For instance, if Black, Latinx, Indigenous, and Pacific Islander students are passing a course that isn’t designed or taught well, their performance may be equal to white students enrolled in an excellent course elsewhere, but those outcomes are not equitable. College, district, and school leaders must ensure that historically underrepresented students of color have equitable access to and success in high-quality dual enrollment programs. To do so, leaders must make intentional, substantive investments to advance equity. Through our research, we identified five principles that While we selected partnerships across a range of state undergird the strategies and practices of equitable dual and local contexts, they do not represent every possible enrollment partnerships. scenario, and not all strategies are directly applicable across all dual enrollment sites—but the principles are broad enough to apply. Additionally, though our primary PRINCIPLE I: Set a shared vision and goals that equity focus was on race and ethnicity, we also learned prioritize equity about how dual enrollment programs effectively support PRINCIPLE II: Expand equitable access low-income students, first-generation college students, PRINCIPLE III: Connect students to advising and and English language learners. supports that ensure equitable outcomes PRINCIPLE IV: Provide high-quality instruction The focus of this publication is on institutional levers, not that builds students’ competence and confidence policy ones. But where relevant, we explain the policies that shaped the institutional practices we observed. PRINCIPLE V: Organize teams and develop In particular, they often determine which students are relationships to maximize potential eligible for dual enrollment courses and how they must demonstrate eligibility, the location and modality of Our recommendations are based on visits to effective dual courses students may take, whether students can access enrollment programs across three states that have diverse career and technical options as part of their acceleration contexts and varied approaches. When we use the terms plan, how dual enrollment is funded, and whether tuition is “effective,” “excellence,” and “high-quality,” we mean not free for students.12 Leaders should understand where they that the programs are popular or financially healthy but might advocate for policies that could advance equity in a that they have strong outcomes for students: They earned lasting way and how policies that expand dual enrollment passing grades (C or better) in their dual enrollment without race-conscious efforts to equalize access may only courses, accumulated at least nine college credits while widen equity gaps.13 in high school, and enrolled in and completed one year of college after high school graduation (whether at the community college or elsewhere). 12 For recommendations for equity-focused state dual enrollment policy, see Matthews, Jr., L., (2020). Accelerating Students from High School to College and Careers. Tallahassee, FL: ExcelinEd; Moore, C. (2019). Making Equity Intentional: The Role of State Policy in Removing Barriers for Underserved Students to Access Dual Enrollment Opportunities. Washington, DC: HCM Strategists; Unlocking Potential: A State Policy Roadmap for Equity & Quality in College in High School Programs. (2019). College in the High School Alliance and Level Up. 13 Jones, T. & Nichols, A. H., (2020). Hard Truths: Why Only Race-Conscious Policies Can Fix Racism in Higher Education. Washington, DC: The Education Trust. 8 THE DUAL ENROLLMENT PLAYBOOK The five principles in this playbook reflect the lessons we provide hands-on tools for guiding work at high schools that will make the most difference for historically and colleges, including institutional self-assessments and underrepresented students of color, but these strategies discussion guides for partners. may benefit students from low-income and other backgrounds as well. For each principle, we name several When leaders apply these principles and champion strategies, with examples, that the colleges and high practices and policies that prioritize equity as the ultimate schools we studied use to advance equitable access to and goal, dual enrollment can truly accelerate the path to success in high-quality dual enrollment courses. Online, college and meaningful careers for all students. n TABLE 1: STATEWIDE DUAL ENROLLMENT POLICIES14 WASHINGTON: FLORIDA: DUAL OHIO: COLLEGE WASHINGTON: COLLEGE IN THE ENROLLMENT CREDIT PLUS RUNNING START HIGH SCHOOL Classes at the high school X X X S SE NG Classes at the college X X X URRI OFE Online classes X X X CF O CTE options includeda X X Grade level requirement Grades 6–12 Grades 7–12 Grades 11–12 Grades 10–12 b S TYNT GPA requirement X X X BILIEME Testing requirementc X X X X GIR LIUI EQ Exceptions to eligibility X X X X E R requirements allowed District pays X X Xd G Students and families X Xe N bear some costs NDI FU Schools receive funding X X for dual enrollment via scorecards a In addition to Running Start and College in the High School, Washington has a robust college CTE program for high schoolers. b Entry requirements for both Washington programs are set by the postsecondary institutions. c Florida and Ohio have waived these requirements due to the COVID-19 pandemic. d Colleges receive 93 percent of the district’s per-pupil funding for participating students. e Districts and colleges work out agreements locally. 14 Compiled from the Florida Department of Education, Ohio Department of Education, Washington Student Achievement Council, and Education Commission of the States.