New resources from the Community College Resource Center (CCRC) identify several strategies and promising practices for scaling career-connected dual enrollment in CTE pathways.
The CCRC report, Scaling Career-Connected Dual Enrollment: How College and K-12 Partners Can Strengthen Pathways and Expand Opportunity, is accompanied by four case studies that describe how high school and college partnerships are integrating dual enrollment and career-connected learning in
pathways to break down the divide between college and career.
Two of the case studies spotlight the work of California districts: Oakland Unified and Centinela Valley Union High. Oakland Unified built career-connected dual enrollment into their existing Linked Learning approach; students participate in industry-themed pathways that integrate academics, career exploration, work-based learning and postsecondary advising. Centinela Valley Union High partnered with El Camino College on a pilot project to embed dual enrollment in its Manufacturing and Engineering academy. It proved so successful that they scaled the approach across 10 academies and CTE pathways in three high schools.
As part of the California Pathways Proof Points initiative, Centinela Valley Union High is now looking at ways to further expand integrated dual enrollment pathway opportunities to students who aren’t in academies as they enter high school from feeder elementary districts.