The Charge for Dual Enrollment in California

Current intentions for dual enrollment in the state of California are set forth in the Governor’s Roadmap for Community Colleges and Vision 2030 from the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office. The charges for the field are clear:

    • Increase the number of dual-enrolled students earning 12 or more units of college credit by high school graduation.
    • Close access gaps in dual enrollment offerings, ensuring historically underrepresented students are served by dual enrollment.
    • Provide equity in access, support and success of students.

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. Research shows that when dual enrollment is designed for quality and equity, students who are most underrepresented in postsecondary degree attainment—young men of color, students from low-income families, and students who are the first in their families to attend college—often benefit the most. Evidence also suggests that students who start with lower GPAs experience similar gains.

Dual enrollment provides an introduction to postsecondary education for first-generation college students and their families. It offers a low- or no-cost way to earn college credit and can help students obtain degrees faster. It can also serve as a powerful equity strategy when it intentionally prioritizes underserved students and is integrated into holistic college guided pathways designed to support student completion of degrees and certificates.

How to Use this Guide

The Equitable Dual Enrollment Policy to Practice Guide is intended for practitioners implementing the early college credit option of dual enrollment in California. Building on the work of the original Dual Enrollment Toolkit published in 2016, the guide takes into account the significant legislative reforms enacted since that time, along with lessons learned by practitioners teaching and learning during and after a global pandemic, and an infusion of state, federal and philanthropic funds to support expansion of equitable dual enrollment.

This guide comprises eight content-specific sections that, while related, can also be used independently. There is also a Resources section with links to web-based tools, research, and organizations focused on dual enrollment. Sections contain items such as examples of promising practices, equity considerations, getting started guides, frequently asked questions, and resources related specifically to the section topic.

Centering equity is foundational to impactful and high-quality dual enrollment. Each section includes special attention to equity considerations. Equitable dual enrollment can be quantifiably measured by disaggregating data on participation and success by race/ethnicity, gender, pathway type, and other factors. Equity can also be qualitatively measured by partnering with the community to better understand their needs and experiences. Our hope is that dual enrollment partnerships move beyond treating equity as a “checkbox” end point, instead recognizing equity as an iterative transformation focused on increasing opportunity and achievement for students across California who have been historically underserved by these opportunities.

A Note on Terminology Used in the Guide

Dual enrollment is used in many different ways in California. For the purposes of this guide, the term is a description of a student’s enrollment status for students who are enrolled in both college and high school at the same time.

Faculty is the term the guide uses most often to describe the person who teaches college classes that enroll students who are also in high school. Depending on local partnership agreements, that person may be formally employed by a college or by a high school. Because the classes are college classes, however, any person who teaches those classes is a college faculty member who has met the requirements to teach that particular course. The guide also uses the term instructor when focusing on the instructional aspect of the role.

In this guide, we often refer to historically underserved students in postsecondary education. The descriptor refers to students from groups who have had limited access to postsecondary education or to high-quality educational supports or services. Because this descriptor encompasses a student’s experience in a given educational institution, it has both quantitative and qualitative dimensions. Depending on the context, the guide also uses the term historically underrepresented in postsecondary education, which speaks to quantifiable representation of the access and success of groups of students. Students of color—particularly students who identify as Black, Indigenous or Latine—have often been both underserved and underrepresented. Historically, structural inequities in educational institutions produced outcomes and experiences generally predictable by race and other forms of identity.

It’s important to note that different datasets use various descriptors and definitions for student groups, especially when describing race and ethnicity, and no single terminology is perfect. Students’ identities are also complex and intersectional. Race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status or class, gender, gender identification, sexual orientation, diverse-ability, age, religion, national origin, immigrant status, and others—all are facets of identity that influence how students experience and are impacted by our educational institutions. Identities are also deeply shaped by experiences, such as those of justice-impacted students. Similarly, students in rural communities, foster youth, youth experiencing homelessness, English language learners and students who are parents or caregivers, may all have differing experiences of postsecondary education. Data for dual enrollment in particular does not capture the various identities students may hold. For example, many datasets do not account for factors such as income status, gender identity, or specific ethnic identities that may be subsumed within broader racial categories like Asian or Latine.

Disproportionate impact, according to the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office (CCCCO), “occurs when a subset of students based on student characteristics, such as age, race and gender, are unjustifiably experiencing lower outcomes compared to the total student population” (CCCCO, 2022, Percentage Point Gap Method). A disproportionately impacted group may therefore need more access to student services and additional support to reach success. Addressing disproportionate impact requires analyzing data, identifying inequities, and implementing focused interventions to achieve equitable outcomes.

Note that a formal definition of disproportionate impact is provided in Title 5 of the California Code of Regulations for the express purpose of assessment and placement. The California Community Colleges are legislatively mandated to use at least one common methodology to measure disproportionate impact, making it easier to measure and track equity gaps in outcomes. This method can assess “disproportionate impact across a variety of indicators, including those in the Student Success Metrics, successful course completion, ESL & basic skills completion, degree and certificate completion, transfer, and others.” See CCCCO 2022, Percentage Point Gap Method.

For a more detailed explanation of disproportionate impact and methodologies for assessing disproportionate impact, see Using Disproportionate Impact Methods to Identify Equity Gaps, by G. Sosa, Research and Planning Group, issued 2017, revised 2022.