There’s been a national spotlight on dual enrollment (DE) as a way to spark interest in postsecondary education and reduce college costs for students. National data show that the number of students in the programs is growing, and in many cases they are driving enrollment increases at community colleges.
However, DE programs often face challenges in enrolling students from underrepresented populations, including low-income families and various races and ethnicities. The Community College Research Center at Columbia University on Wednesday published a brief summarizing recent interviews with historically underserved students in DE to understand what they want from their DE programs.
Based on focus groups with nearly 100 predominantly Black, Hispanic and low-income students in DE programs at six community colleges and their 12 high school DE partners in Florida and Texas, CCRC found six themes:
- Students want to know about DE options earlier.
- Students want well-informed DE advisors who empower them.
- Students want their DE courses to be aligned with career and academic pathways in their fields of interest.
- Students want engaging learning experiences in their online courses.
- Students want to know how to balance the high school experience and DE course-taking.
- Students want to know how to find scholarships and manage debt to help them attend college after high school.
Ways to improve
Aurely Garcia Tulloch, a senior research assistant at CCRC who authored the brief — and who is herself a former DE student — detailed the feedback from the interviewed students and provided examples of ways to address the issues. For example, regarding students’ comments on earlier outreach, several students said that they discovered DE later in high school, with one 12th-grade student noting that earlier awareness could have influenced them to choose courses to complete an associate degree while in high school. Other students said that knowing about DE earlier could have helped them take more advantage of its financial benefits.
Garcia Tulloch wrote that educators can promote early awareness of DE through three strategies:
- Outreach in elementary and middle schools, such as informational events and field trips to a local community college.
- Targeted advertising in local media and community organizations, including local newspapers, Boys and Girls Clubs and YMCA.
- Agreeing on what DE information should be shared with local communities, such as what students should know about DE by a certain grade level and what parents should know about DE when a student moves from elementary to middle to high school.
Additionally, the brief says that K-12–college partnerships could dedicate a school day to academic and career advising for prospective and current DE students, noting that these early-outreach strategies were implemented successfully in Title I school partnerships with Miami Dade College.
Related article: A DEEPer approach to dual enrollment
The theme around DE students’ learning experiences in their online courses was particularly unique, highlighting several challenges facing DE. The brief notes that at some rural high schools in Florida and Texas, students’ options for DE were exclusively online due to limited qualified DE instructors at the high school and lack of transportation. The synchronous and/or asynchronous online learning presented a challenge for some students.
Garcia Tulloch recommended several strategies for DE staff and instructors to create better online course experiences, including asking DE students questions about their online course experiences to inform professional development activities. DE staff can also create dedicated classroom time for DE students to receive extra support, and raise awareness of office hours and tutoring resources that are available online or in person at the high school or the college.
The research is supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
In early October, CCRC will release a report that tracks DE students who started taking courses in 2015 through four years after they graduate from high school.
