Data

Overview

As dual enrollment opportunities and participation increase, regularly collecting and analyzing data for positive or negative impacts on students should be incorporated into the design and evaluation of dual enrollment programs. Historical data shows that students of color, students with special needs, and multilingual learners have been underserved or shut out of dual enrollment programs across the country. Dual enrollment leaders need to closely examine participation and success in their dual enrollment offerings to ensure they are not recreating historical inequities. Any findings where a particular group is underrepresented in an opportunity or succeeding at lower rates than their peers indicates an area where partnerships will need to collaborate, plan, and take action to address the existing gaps.

This section of the guide includes resources that partnerships can use for quantitative and qualitative data collection and examples from the field of how partnerships are using data to identify and address gaps in dual enrollment access and success.

Using Data to Ensure Equity

The three goals of Vision 2030 are equity in access, equity in support, and equity in success. For dual enrollment to truly be an equitable opportunity for students, the participation rates of students in dual enrollment from any given demographic or student group should mirror that of the high school, district, and community being served, and success rates should be similar across student demographic groups.

For example, one would observe equitable participation if 12% of dual-enrolled students are multilingual learners/English learners and 12% of students in the high school are also multilingual learners/English Learners.

Some examples of demographic subgroups include, but are not limited to:

• • Age/Grade Level
  • Race/Ethnicity
  • Gender
  • LGBTQ+ Identity
  • First-Generation Status
  • English Language Acquisition Status
  • Socioeconomic Status
  • Disabilities
  • Homeless and Foster Youth Status

What Questions Should We Ask?

Below are some questions that your partnership can investigate using local and statewide data. Examples and resources are provided to aid your partnership in collecting, analyzing and using the data to identify and begin to address equity gaps.

1. Are there equitable opportunities for students to participate in dual enrollment?

Depending on the data that is available, partnerships can disaggregate enrollment data by various student characteristics to compare high school enrollment to participation in dual enrollment. If students are underrepresented in dual enrollment, the first question to ask may be what opportunities exist that they can access. Equitable dual enrollment programs are designed with course and pathway opportunities for students at all levels of past academic performance with a range of interests and college and career goals.

Examples and Resources

• • The Jumpstart report by The Education Trust–West in 2022 provided the state with an overview of and method for analyzing whether Black, Latinx, and Native American students in California are equitably represented in dual enrollment programs. By comparing the representation of student ethnicity subgroups within a community college’s service area to the representation of students currently participating in dual enrollment, the report identified the extent to which each community college district provides equitable access to dual enrollment for Black, Latinx and Native American students.
    • A Jumpstart on College: Dual Enrollment Resources, from EdTrust-West
    • CLP and EdTrust-West “Jumpstarting College Access” Worksheets
  • The Dual Enrollment Access Gap Tool from CLP enables partnerships to compare high school and dual enrollment participation by age/grade level and ethnicity.
  • Dual Enrollment for Foster Youth: Toward Effective Practice, a report from CLP, summarizes the work of three sites to increase high school and college success for foster youth through access to dual enrollment. It reviews key challenges encountered by students and practitioners and describes promising practices and notable strategies implemented by the sites. Based on these lessons, the report outlines recommendations for policy changes at the high school, college, and state levels that would enable college and high school partnerships to engage and support more foster youth in dual enrollment in California.

2. Do our dual enrollment recruitment and enrollment processes support access?

All students should be aware of the opportunities that they have to participate in dual enrollment through their high school or at the college. Equitable outreach and recruitment processes ensure that all students have the chance to express interest in and enroll in dual enrollment classes. See the Outreach and Recruitment for Historically Underserved Students section of this guide for more information and guidance on creating and implementing equitable practices.

Partnerships often keep a list of high school students who are interested in enrolling in college classes, which they use to monitor and support enrollment. By compiling a list of interested students who are not enrolled as part of the enrollment monitoring process, partnerships can analyze which students are not getting enrolled in the college classes. Disaggregating this data can show if there are certain groups of students who are less likely than others to successfully complete the enrollment process after expressing interest. This can help partnerships identify and address causes of equity gaps in participation. See the Enrollment Process section of this guide for information about equitable enrollment practices.

Examples and Resources

• • Compliance and Compassion: Dual Enrollment and Admissions & Records summarizes the perspectives and experiences shared by a small group of community college A&R leaders on how dual enrollment coordinators and A&R can work together to support an equitable enrollment process for students. CLP published this brief in spring 2023.
  • A Cumbersome Enrollment Process Named the Top Challenge to Dual Enrollment in California describes key findings from a survey of college leaders and practitioners about implementation barriers and what is needed to ensure equitable access and success in dual enrollment. It also includes prompts based on learnings from the survey that practitioners can use to guide reflection and discussion in their own efforts. CLP partnered with Engage R+D, with support from the CCCCO, to conduct the survey.
  • Dual Enrollment Snapshots, a series of four snapshots produced by CLP, highlights the characteristics of dual enrollment in colleges and high school partnerships across the state.
  • Building Community Through Dual Enrollment: East Los Angeles College and Community-Based Organizations, a brief from CLP, tells the story of how one dual enrollment partnership connects high school students to college courses in dual enrollment pathways, connects parents to ESL classes and job training, and supports the whole family in understanding college culture and how to be supportive of family members in college.

3. Are students succeeding at comparable rates?

For dual enrollment to be equitable, success rates should be similar across student demographic groups, with particular attention to underrepresented or historically underserved groups. There are various methods for measuring student success. Some data elements to consider for evaluating the success of dual-enrolled students include, but are not limited to:

• • Course completion/college credits earned.
  • Retention in courses (same term) and programs (term to term).
  • High school graduation rates.
  • Completion of certificate, degree, or transfer pathway during or after high school.

Some partnerships are incorporating dual enrollment participation and success into their local dashboards and provide data disaggregated by race/ethnicity and gender for monitoring and planning purposes. These dashboards can be extremely beneficial in keeping partnerships accountable for ensuring equitable outcomes within their programs.

Examples and Resources

• • Kern CCD Early College Dashboard (2019-Present)
  • Compton College Dual Enrollment Dashboard
  • Cabrillo College: Dual Enrollment Overall Trends (2020-2023)
  • Pasadena College Dual Enrollment Dashboard

4. Are students having a positive experience in dual enrollment?

Understanding the student experience beyond student course evaluations is imperative for improving programs. Partnerships can use surveys, interviews, and focus groups to collect data on the student experience to improve access, support, and success for more students in dual enrollment.

Examples and Resources

• • Student Voice: Dual Enrollment Case Studies and Videos focus on how dual enrollment provided historically underrepresented students and their families with an introduction to postsecondary education.
  • Where Are They Now? A Study of Dual Enrollment Students in the Kern Community College District, a report by CLP, includes a sample focus group protocol with questions for assessing student experience and potential impacts of dual enrollment after high school.
  • From Voice to Action: Putting Students at the Center of College Redesign describes how focus groups and other methods of qualitative feedback can help practitioners incorporate student voice into college redesign.

5. How does dual enrollment prepare students for college and career?

Multiple studies have shown that students who participate in high-quality dual enrollment programs during high school are more likely to graduate high school, enter college, and persist in college to completion (What Works Clearinghouse, 2017). Partnerships can use quantitative and qualitative data to measure outcomes of dual enrollment participation on students after high school. By collecting college enrollment and completion data from sources like the National Student Clearinghouse or local data sources, partnerships can measure correlations between dual enrollment participation and success in college and career. By conducting focus groups with former dual-enrolled students, partnerships can gain insight into student experiences and outcomes.

Examples and Resources

• • Where Are They Now? A Study of Dual Enrollment Students in the Kern Community College District. Using data from the National Student Clearinghouse, CLP and Kern CCD investigated post-high school college enrollment trends and how they correlated with the number of units completed by students through dual enrollment in high school.
  • Navigating Dual Enrollment: Los Angeles Scholars Share Their Insights on What Matters Most for Success. This memo summarizes a study conducted by former dual-enrolled students. The students developed research questions and conducted interviews to learn about students’ experiences in dual enrollment, their sense of the benefits of dual enrollment, and the “ideal” set of dual enrollment opportunities.

Accessing Dual Enrollment Data

Data Sources

The sources and reports below contain data that are either publicly available, or available with certain subscriptions and credentials. Each report may provide different benefits to partnerships that are analyzing access and success in their dual enrollment programs. Note to practitioners: To ensure data at the state level is correct, be sure to complete dual enrollment reporting, such as CCAP reports.

Local Data Sources

In dual enrollment, although students are enrolled at both their high school and the community college, the two institutions often have access to different information for these students based on what they collect during their individual application or enrollment process. The following table summarizes the student information that is typically collected by the high school or community college.

Data Sharing Between High School and Community College

CCAP partnerships are required to establish protocols for data/information sharing within their formal agreements (Ed Code 76004). Whether these protocols are included in the agreement itself or in a separate data sharing agreement, partnerships should include how they will ensure that FERPA and other confidentiality requirements are followed, what data is to be shared by each party, and how data will be shared. One challenge, even when data sharing agreements are in place, is finding unique student identifiers that enable partnerships to combine and update their data.

Are partnerships allowed to share data?

Partnerships should be very careful when sharing information, and should always have a data sharing agreement in place when sharing any documents that contain identifiable student information. FERPA allows for data sharing with school officials for “legitimate educational interests,” for audits and evaluations, for research studies, and for health and safety reasons. Many partnerships share data for “legitimate educational interest.” Consent for the high school and college to share certain information between themselves should be included in the admissions or enrollment process. (See the Enrollment Process section of this guide for more details.) Establishing data sharing agreements, and notifying students about what information is being shared and why, will help make data sharing clear.

What should we include in our data sharing agreement?

Partnerships may want to consider including all or some of the following data items in their agreements, although access and ability to share information will vary from institution to institution.

Data from High School District to College

• • Rosters of students to be enrolled in each course including name, birthdate, and other unique identifiers (such as high school and/or college identification number).
  • Transcript-level data for college English and math placement.
  • Classifications and accommodations for students: ELAS, IEP, 504, Foster, Homeless, Free or Reduced-Price Meal

Data from College to High School District

• • List of college ID numbers for students by high school. If these can be entered in the student information system at the high school district, then they can be used as a unique identifier.
  • Rosters (enrollment reports) of students currently enrolled in each course including name, birthdate, and other unique identifiers (such as college and/or high school identification number).
  • Early alerts or progress reports. If the college uses an early alert system or requires progress grades to be entered by faculty, these could be provided to high school districts.
  • Final grades and credits earned by students.

How should we share the data?

When sharing data, partnerships should consider the following:

• • Identify a secure way to send files and information between the high school and college.
  • Specify who will send, receive, and have access to the information that is shared.
  • Store information securely, and follow storage and destruction requirements, as set forth in the data sharing agreement and/or local policies.
  • Set a schedule for when reports will be sent by each party, either manually or automatically.
  • Build in assurance checks to verify that students have the correct and most up-to-date high school listed in their records before sharing identifiable student information.