Unlocking Potential, Expanding Opportunity:
The Role of Dual Enrollment

STEM CTE Dual Enrollment Pathways: Participation and Impacts - Brian Phillips, RAND Corporation

The Effect of Early College High Schools on STEM Bachelor's degree attainment - Tom Swiderski, Education Policy Initiative at Carolina, UNC Chapel Hill

Math Dual Enrollment: Addressing Critical Education Needs in Rural Areas - Holley Nichols, Ph.D. and Kelsey Jenkins, The Belk Center for Community College Leadership and Research at NC State University

Dual Enrollment Equity Pathways: A Research-Based Framework for Broadening the Benefits of Dual Enrollment - Sarah Griffin, Community College Research Center, Teachers College, Columbia University

A Qualitative Examination of Early College High School Students' Academic and Interpersonal (In)validation in Texas - Taryn Ozuna Allen and Stephanie Cuellar, Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, TX; Maria Delgado and Elsa Camargo, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, TX

Rolling Out the Red Carpet... Literally! - Mary Schmid Carter, Central Carolina Community College, Sanford, NC 

Nurturing Academic Success: Strategies for Dual-Enrolled Students at Pender Early College High School - Natasha Eachus Snyder, Cape Fear Community College, Wilmington, NC

If you could wave a magic wand, how would you improve the state of the partnerships that drive college-going in your community? Imagine a community coming together to define a vision and outcomes for equitable economic mobility and access to education. Together partners in K12, higher education and workforce collaborate to strategically create an aligned set of programs that mobilize student success.

Successful dual enrollment programs provide learners equitable access to college and career opportunities. Data that monitors students' progress toward earning college credit in high school can identify areas of inequity and encourage collective problem-solving by education partners. Participants in this session will examine myFutureNC's County Profiles, discuss best practices for educational partners and identify strategies for addressing the challenges faced by college access teams.

The NC Practitioners Panel brings together highly successful district leaders, college partners, and an early college principal to share their expertise and experience in expanding access to dual enrollment while ensuring all students are richly supported to ensure their success. We will lift up policies and practices that strengthen partnerships to promote ongoing communication and collaboration between partners and with students and families to unlock the full potential of dual enrollment.

The question of who pays dual enrollment tuition--and the extent that costs are borne by families, institutions, and secondary partners--can significantly enhance or impair equitable program access and participation, particularly for underrepresented students. This session will provide a national overview of various funding approaches states have adopted - ranging from no cost to students to potentially full cost to students - as well as considerations for state leaders weighing changes to funding models in order to increase access and equity. The presentation will provide a current policy landscape, updating information in the presenter's seminal 2019 Funding for Equity report https://collegeinhighschool.org/resources/funding/.

Dual credit is predominantly discussed at conferences from the higher education institution (HEI) perspective, but it is a two-way partnership with high schools. The Center of Excellence for Leadership of Learning (CELL) at the University of Indianapolis has fifteen years' experience working as an intermediary with both high schools and HEIs. We will offer insights and guidance on how HEIs can work more smoothly with high school partners.

In this session, experts from the Center of Excellence in Leadership of Learning (CELL) in Indiana and the Early College Research Center (ECRC) in NC will discuss supports provided by CELL to early college programs at all stages of development. The session will share insights and lessons learned by providers of these supports helpful to educational practitioners, policymakers, and school administrators working to sustain and improve their early college or dual enrollment programs.

Online dual enrollment can be a powerful vehicle for increasing college access in high schools, and the Increasing College Access Network (ICAN) combines the power of social-emotional learning, community partnership, instructor preparation, and an intentional student recruitment process to improve outcomes for students and instructors. In this session, The Learning Accelerator will describe strategies to implement ICAN in two community colleges in Minnesota, and researchers from the American Institutes for Research will summarize findings related to the implementation of these strategies during the fall 2023 semester. A discussant from Jobs for the Future will synthesize themes and lessons from this early-stage implementation and invite the audience to pose questions and reflections.

In this symposium, attendees will hear papers focused on the implementation and impact of North Carolina's early college model as well as reflections from an early college principal. Then they will participate in a discussion about the strategies for expanding this model.

If dual enrollment is going to increase college going rates for students underrepresented in higher education, it must be coupled with services and supports that address a broader range of students' needs. Gateway to College (GtC) is an exemplary dual enrollment program that empowers communities to reengage students who have been disconnected from education.

Accelerate ED is a national initiative supporting communities building high-quality accelerated pathways for high school students, particularly students of color and students experiencing poverty. This symposium will feature successful accelerated pathways programs that exemplify how to integrate dual enrollment into a coherent program of study including exposure to the world of work.

Janet Boyle (facilitator) - Director of the Rural Early College Network, Center of Excellence in Leadership of Learning (CELL)

Matt Bristow-Smith - Principal, Edgecombe Early College High

Jennifer Nichols - Vice President of Educational Partnerships, Gaston College

Litza Rubio - Dual Enrollment Program Coordinator, University of Florida

Michael Werner - Coordinator of Post-Secondary Planning, Mounds View Public Schools

Administrators from a community college and large urban K-12 district will share how the implementation of a food scholarship has increased equity, access, and success for dual enrollment students. We will share the process of creating a food scholarship from idea to implementation. Attendees will leave with an understanding of how to leverage partnerships to create a similar initiative.

Although dual enrollment students are taking college courses, they need various types of support to achieve academic success. In this workshop session, we will define and share successful wraparound strategies for students enrolled in The University of Alabama's UA Early College program. Two major questions will be addressed in this session: 1.) What wraparound services have contributed to successful outcomes for dual enrollment students? 2.) What practices can potentially be scaled regardless of modality?

Taryn Allen -Associate Professor, Texas Christian University

Dianne Barker (facilitator) - Director of State Engagement, NACEP

Julie Edmunds - Director, Early College Research Center | University of North Carolina - Greensboro 

Xiaodan Hu - Associate Professor, Northern Illinois University

Jason Taylor - Associate Professor, the University of Utah

In this session, researchers, policymakers, and institutional leadership will examine how the Research Institute at Dallas College is holistically analyzing and understanding the characteristics and outcomes of dual enrollment students. Participants will explore the creation and use of interactive dashboards to synthesize large, longitudinal datasets on dual enrollment measures through an equity lens. While findings focus on the greater Dallas region, best practices for holistic analysis of long-term outcomes are included to help inform leadership across higher education and K-12 districts.

A team of researchers from the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond will discuss the Survey of Community College Outcomes and the results pertaining to dual enrollment.  This includes a discussion on how policy impacts participation in dual enrollment and the achievement of dual enrollment students. An interactive component will have participants engage in some hypothetical decision-making themselves as community colleges, school districts and high school students.  

This session will provide updated findings from the Evaluation of Career and College Promise, North Carolina's statewide dual enrollment program. Results will address who is participating in dual enrollment, the impacts of dual enrollment on key secondary and postsecondary outcomes, and strategies that can be used to expand access to dual enrollment.

Based on ongoing evaluations of dual credit programs in North Carolina and Indiana, the session will provide an overview of the variation in dual enrollment implementation practices and factors affecting students’ access to and success in college-level courses in these two states.

In this Q&A Panel, experts from RTI International and the SERVE Center will discuss how early colleges can improve college readiness, help students overcome academic, cultural, and financial barriers to college, and make pursuing postsecondary education a possibility for all students.

Join us as we unveil the blueprint of our groundbreaking early college high school program, tailored to uplift first-generation students and those facing economic challenges. Explore the strategies our team has implemented, paving the way for students to achieve remarkable academic success. This insightful session can help you empower your students to leap into dual enrollment success.

As math department chair at a public early middle college, I was concerned that even after completing our early middle college math classes, our Black female students were still placing into the college developmental math classes and repeating college math classes at higher rates than the rest of the student body. I set out to study this informally and that eventually led to a formalized study as my dissertation. I'll share what the girls said about their experiences transitioning from early college math to college math, what themes and commonalities I found, and what systemic changes can be made to support our Black girls' post-secondary mathematical success. 

"Dual Enrollment for Equitable Completion (DE4EC) is an initiative supported by the Gates Foundation, College Futures Foundation, and Tipping Point Community to strengthen 10 California Community Colleges and their K12 partners' efforts to ensure students who identify as Black and/or Latina/o/x, and those who are economically disadvantaged have equitable access to, entry into, and preparation for various postsecondary trajectories. This presentation will explore the following question: How did the K12 and community college partners ensure that historically underrepresented and excluded students were engaged, participated, and successful in dual enrollment and beyond? 

Nadia Leary - Manager of Recruitment, MyUniversity, and CCP, Lorain County Community College

Tim McClain - Dual Credit Program Supervisor, Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction

Alex Perry - Policy Advisor, Foresight Law+Policy

Deborah Santiago - Chief Executive Officer, Excelencia in Education

Joel Vargas (facilitator) - Vice President, Jobs for the Future

In this session members of the Career and College Promise (CCP) Evaluation Partnership present results suggesting that DE course taking mitigated the impact of COVID-19 on student outcomes, using statewide data. These results are further contextualized and complemented by insights from interviews with staff involved with CCP implementation, providing a more nuanced understanding of the program’s impact during the pandemic. Audience members will have opportunities to interact with the presenters, ask questions, and share insights during the presentation.

Early college students need extensive structure and support to earn their associate degree and high school diploma in 4 years. By marrying guided pathways and transfer guides, learn how Rowan-Cabarrus Community College strives to provide students the best opportunity to earn a tailored associate degree that best meets students' future goals.

To increase PSEO student involvement, integration, and matriculation into our Career and Technical Education programs, Dakota County Technical College has developed a robust admission and advising process that not only allows but encourages secondary students to begin their journey towards technical careers while still in high school. Participants will learn about our admissions and advising model which incorporates exploration of technical programs and the positive impacts of student integration into our programs, and more specifically how participation in technical education can help BIPOC, first-generation, and low-income students begin closing generational equity gaps while they are still in high school. .

This workshop will explore the depths of cultivating authentic connection with students through relationship building that fosters a safe space and encourages vulnerability. We will investigate how authentic connection promotes an environment that gives students the greatest advantage to succeed.

Through various school events, our Dual Credit Academic Advisors initiated a campaign to inform primary and intermediate school students about the benefits of Dual Credit. With continued support and effort, we hope to reach and educate the next generation of students to pursue advanced academics through our Dual Credit program.