More than 900 attendees gathered last week for the fourth annual California Dual Enrollment Equity Conference in San Diego. Breakout sessions over two days featured presenters from across the education spectrum including K-12, community colleges, CSU and UC, along with researchers, intermediaries, community and workforce partners. View session materials and resources.
“Disaggregated data… these are not weapons that should be used against us. These are flashlights to illuminate where we need to focus our efforts and our work.”
Highlights included keynote addresses by Dr. Ashanti Hands, President of San Diego Mesa College, and John Fink, Senior Research Associate and Program Lead at the Community College Research Center (CCRC) at Teachers College, Columbia University.
The Day 1 panel discussion on equity-centered dual enrollment was facilitated by Sylva Symonds, Senior Program Officer at the Gates Foundation, and featured San Diego K-12 education leaders: Dr. Moisés G. Aguirre, Superintendent of Sweetwater Union High School District, Ana Diaz-Booz, Principal of Kearny High Educational Complex, and Roberto “Beto” Carrillo, Executive Director of the Juvenile Court and Community Schools through the San Diego County Office of Education.
Students from the Dual Enrollment Squad (#DEsquad) shared insight and advice from their experience in a Day 2 panel discussion facilitated by Aurely Garcia Tulloch, Research Analyst at CCRC. The panelists also serve on CCRC’s dual enrollment student advisory panel.
“I felt like I was my own counselor for most of the time… it was really me asking friends, ‘How do you enroll in community college?…Do I enroll directly on their website?’ There were a lot of things I didn’t know because it wasn’t really talked about.”
“Being that bridge between the high school and community college to the UCs is super important, but also understanding that there are two paths to dual enrollment — exploration or acceleration. I chose acceleration because I didn’t know exploration was an option.”
Next year’s conference will be in Anaheim on March 8-10, 2027. Hope to see you there!