Major legislation supporting expansion of equitable dual enrollment is now with the Governor to sign or veto by the end of the month. The bill, AB 359 (Holden), builds on considerable progress in the field and the growing evidence that College and Career Access Pathways (CCAP) dual enrollment is reducing equity gaps in participation.
AB 359 would address many barriers to dual enrollment and support state efforts including the Golden State Pathways Program, the Governor’s Roadmap for Community Colleges and Vision 2030. It would:
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- Enable high schools to partner with community colleges outside of current service area boundaries.
- Eliminate barriers by mandating only one application while a student is dually enrolled with the community college.
- Remove the requirement for a principal’s signature which is another barrier to participation.
- Align student success policies across the segments and emphasize ensuring access to transferable, college-level English and math courses with embedded student supports.
- Ensure that students get dual credit for both high school and college courses. Currently that decision is left to local school boards, which means that students in some districts get no credit toward high school graduation for college-level work.
- Address ongoing data collection needs vital to measuring the outcomes of student participation in these programs and ensuring that program benefits are equitably distributed. Adds reporting on how many students complete 12 units of college credit.
- Allow for classes to be reserved for only high school students regardless of time of day, high school or college campus location, and online or in-person modality. This allows more flexibility in scheduling courses to meet the needs of students.
- Ensure courses will not be canceled if an agreed upon minimum number of students are enrolled.
- Transition all dual enrollment programs to CCAP by 2030-31, with the exception of early and middle college high schools.
The bill was authored by Assemblymember Chris Holden (D-Pasadena) and co-authored by Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi (D-Torrance).