The California Department of Education (CDE) held a technical assistance webinar last week for those interested in applying for the Dual Enrollment Opportunities competitive grant program. This is Round 2 of the program and it includes grants supporting College and Career Access Pathways (CCAP) and Middle College and Early College (MCEC) dual enrollment.
Diane Crum, Education Programs Consultant in the High School Innovations and Initiatives Office of the CDE, highlighted a couple of new items for Round 2 and some considerations for allowable expenses:
- CCAP grant funds can be used to add a new pathway to an existing CCAP partnership.
- A district that wants to start middle or early colleges at more than one school site can apply for multiple MCEC grants. That is, a district would apply for each school site.
- Paying for college textbooks and supplies is allowable. Purchase of high school textbooks and supplies is not allowed.
- For teachers getting a master’s degree to teach college courses, you can’t pay for their entire degree but you could use grant funds to pay them a stipend. The important consideration here is how it would benefit the overall program, rather than the individual getting the advanced degree. Items purchased for personal gain are not allowable grant expenses.
Diane pointed out a few often-overlooked items in the scoring rubric that grant applicants should make sure to address. These include descriptions of:
- student population in the overview section
- partnerships with families, community organizations and industry partners
- how pathways are aligned with student interest and regional labor market indicators
Naomi Castro of CLP and Melissa Madigan of the California Coalition of Early & Middle Colleges (CCEMC) named resources and available support for applicants and grantees. (See below.) Presenters also answered webinar attendees’ questions in a Q&A session.
CDE intends to post the webinar recording and slides in a google folder that includes other resources to help dual enrollment grant applicants.
Resources
- CDE Dual Enrollment Opportunities Grant folder
- CLP’s virtual dual enrollment community of practice– Join a free online community of practice for K-12 and college practitioners
- Empowering Colleges to Equitably Serve Communities, a memo to the state’s community colleges from the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office and the Academic Senate for the California Community Colleges
- CCEMC workshop at the Middle College National Consortium Conference on Feb. 14 from 3-4 p.m.