Outreach and Recruitment for Historically Underserved Students

Overview

Historically underserved students—including students from economically disadvantaged or immigrant backgrounds, first-generation college students, juvenile justice-impacted students, and students who identify as Black, Indigenous, or Latine—often face systemic barriers to access and success in postsecondary education. Dual enrollment, when designed with an intentional focus on supporting underserved students, presents an opportunity to remove these barriers through culturally responsive, comprehensive outreach and asset-based messaging that highlights that dual enrollment is for all students. In recent years, California has worked to create a more inclusive vision of who can be served through dual enrollment. This has created an avenue for colleges, schools, and communities to work together to engage historically underserved students in accessing and succeeding in postsecondary education.

This section describes actions and promising practices that can support efforts to remove systemic barriers such as racially-biased outreach practices, inaccessible recruitment materials, deficit-based mindsets with regard to student abilities, and unclear enrollment processes that disproportionately impact historically underserved students.

Center Historically Underserved Students and Families in Outreach and Recruitment Efforts

Improving access, support, and success in dual enrollment requires intentional engagement that centers students and their families and communities. It also requires collaboration between schools and colleges starting from the pre-enrollment phases of outreach and recruitment. An important first step is understanding how your partnership is currently approaching outreach and recruitment for historically underserved students in dual enrollment. It’s vital to consider early communication about dual enrollment opportunities and strategies for engaging students who have historically been excluded or denied access to early college opportunities.

Start with an Asset-based Mindset

An asset-based mindset highlights the skills, talents, and resilience that students already possess. This recognition can build students’ confidence and encourage them to see themselves as capable of succeeding in college courses. By valuing students’ lived experiences, an asset-based outreach approach uses culturally responsive strategies that resonate with students and their families. Ensuring outreach and recruitment efforts utilize an asset-based approach is essential.

Deficit Framing vs. Asset Framing

Deficit framing focuses on perceived shortcomings of individuals. Asset-based framing recognizes strengths and potential that students already have. Asset framing shifts the focus from what students lack to how institutions can adapt policies, outreach, and support systems to meet students where they are and help them thrive. A strength-focused framing of dual enrollment is crucial to ensure buy-in and a commitment to inclusive dual enrollment from staff and faculty, and to effectively engage and enroll historically underserved students.

Use the table below to identify and address deficit framing in dual enrollment opportunities. This tool may serve as a conversation guide to support partners as they collaborate in reframing discussions and approaches to be asset based. A shift to an asset-based approach can promote and demonstrate inclusivity in dual enrollment.

Ensure a Race-Conscious, Intersectional Approach

Equitable dual enrollment must acknowledge that students may identify with multiple groups that have been historically excluded or underserved in postsecondary education. This requires practitioners to understand that intersectionality isn’t about counting the number of identities to which a student may ascribe—multilingual, (dis)ability, racialized minority, juvenile justice-impacted and many others. Rather, it means that practitioners need to understand the ways in which students experience college in order to approach outreach and recruitment effectively.

Strategies for Ensuring a Race-Conscious and Intersectional Approach to Outreach and Recruitment

• • Ensure all outreach staff are trained in culturally responsive practices and have an awareness of common racialized experiences that students face in postsecondary education.
  • Hire a diverse outreach team that is part of or familiar with the communities being served.
  • Hire racially and ethnically diverse, multilingual peer ambassadors who can attend outreach events and connect with the students and their families.
  • Leverage both qualitative and quantitative data when evaluating outreach and recruitment practices and outcomes.
  • Evaluate and reflect on how historically underserved students may experience outreach and recruitment events and/or materials.

Questions to Consider

• • How do students from a variety of backgrounds experience the outreach workshops or events? Consider, for example, a student from a mixed-status family who is the only male of color in the workshop. (Mixed status refers to a household where members may have different legal or immigration statuses.)
  • Is the outreach and recruitment information available in multiple languages and formats?
  • Are interpreters available to engage parents and families who may be more comfortable conversing in languages other than English?
  • Are the messaging and materials inclusive of students from mixed-status families and minoritized populations?

Adopt Practices and Policies that Promote Inclusive Outreach and Recruitment

Outreach and recruitment focused on increasing engagement of historically underserved students is foundational to ensuring equitable dual enrollment access and participation. Some promising practices include the following:

Establish default opt-out schedule options. Schedule college courses to be integrated into students’ regular high school schedule by default. If students and families do not wish to participate, they can opt out of the dual enrollment opportunity. With this approach, outreach and recruitment can focus on enrollment processes for students and communication of dual enrollment opportunities to communities and families.

Engage families. Utilize events that parents and families attend, such as registration days and back-to-school nights, to share dual enrollment opportunities. Families can support dual enrollment students by providing positive reinforcement; engaging in conversations about program expectations, timelines and support services to better understand the commitment involved; and staying informed by connecting with educators about their student’s progress and needs.

Engage communities. Identify community and cultural events that students and families are likely to attend. Partner with community-based organizations (CBOs) that serve populations and communities who have been historically underserved by education. Community-embedded CBOs have relationships and often have cultural connections to the communities they serve. Examples of CBOs to connect with include: faith-based organizations, court-appointed special advocates (CASA volunteers), panhellenic organizations associated with sororities and fraternities, Boys & Girls Clubs, and local tribal organizations. The report, Building Community Through Dual Enrollment, documents how East Los Angeles College partners with community-based organizations to provide dual enrollment opportunities.

Publicize opportunities in multiple modalities and languages. Create multilingual marketing materials in both written and visual (video) formats, and include representation from a diverse group of students and communities in these materials. Present success stories showcasing the impact of dual enrollment on historically underserved students.

Engage with data. Understand the student populations that your partnership is serving well, not serving well, or not serving at all. Start by understanding where there are dual enrollment access gaps using the CLP Dual Enrollment Access Gap Tool. Questions to consider include: Who are you serving? Who are you not serving? Then look at retention and success data. Who are you serving well, according to retention and success data? If you notice that one group is not being served well, get curious. Gather quantitative and qualitative data on student enrollment and experiences to better understand the trends seen in the data. See the Data section for more information.

Leverage equity-centered programs and services on campus. Build thoughtful partnerships with campus-based, equity-centered programs that serve the student populations you are trying to engage and support; examples include learning communities, affinity groups, and others . These programs and services might exist on either the college or high school campuses. In some cases, each campus might be able to offer services to support the whole student.

Create Intentional Partnerships

Improving access for historically underserved students and cultivating their subsequent success in dual enrollment also requires attention to designing supports for students. In some cases, this might mean identifying programs and services that have proven successful with engaging students from the relevant demographic groups. Although some of these programs may not be geared toward dual-enrolled students, partnerships can learn from them to develop innovative approaches and strengthen promising practices.

Start with Relationship Building

• • Identify partners, programs, community-based organizations, and individuals who are working to support students historically underserved by education and by your institution specifically.
  • Develop an understanding of how they are working to support students and where there might be opportunities for collaboration to better support dual-enrolled students.
  • Co-create a plan with your partners that includes how you will collaborate, coordinate, and communicate to support students. Define clear roles for high schools and colleges in outreach and recruitment and ensure regular communication. Be flexible; recognize capacity constraints that partners may face and work to build a mutually beneficial partnership.

Engage Partner Organizations and Programs

A key consideration when engaging with historically underserved students is to learn from and engage with partners who have experience supporting priority populations. Leveraging their trusting relationships can cultivate a meaningful dual enrollment experience for students. Partner organizations that work with specific populations have structures, resources, and expertise to support students in college courses offered through dual enrollment. Partner organizations and programs may have specific resources that can support dual enrollment for historically underserved students, such as Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) grants, or specialized services such as Math, Engineering, Science, Achievement (MESA) Centers and Rising Scholars. Leveraging such partnerships in outreach, recruitment, and support of students is critical for ensuring their success.

The table below lists potential organizations and programs to engage in promoting equitable dual enrollment access and success.

Establish Clear Roles and Responsibilities in Dual Enrollment Partnership Agreements

Setting up clear roles and responsibilities for everyone in the partnership helps ensure that historically underserved students have a positive and holistic experience. The partnership can emphasize shared responsibility by detailing clear roles. High school counselors, dual enrollment coordinators and directors, and college outreach staff play particularly important roles in outreach and recruitment. Below is an example of college and high school partner roles.

Sample Roles and Responsibilities in Outreach and Recruitment

College Responsibilities

• • Provide up-to-date information about course offerings (e.g., content, credits, transferability, applicability towards certificates and degrees). Include this information in marketing materials as well as in student and family handbooks that are updated on an annual basis. Provide these materials in multiple modalities and languages, as needed.
  • Clearly communicate and train partners on the application and enrollment processes and requirements.
  • Support students and school partners through application and enrollment processes; examples of support include workshops and step-by-step instructions.
  • Regularly communicate updates to students’ course schedules and enrollment status to school partners.

High School Responsibilities

• • Inform students of opportunities when they are selecting (pre-registering) the courses that they will take in the next academic year.
  • Communicate the benefits of dual enrollment and the cautions. (One example would be cautioning students that grades will be recorded on a student’s permanent transcript.)
  • Expose students to course and pathway options before high school.
  • Provide in-person opportunities for students and families to learn about courses and the application/enrollment process.
  • Provide students and parents time to complete the processes with assistance.
  • Encourage parents to learn about courses and the application/enrollment process.
  • Regularly communicate updates on student interest and enrollment status (i.e., need to add or drop) to college partners.

Develop Communities of Practice

Sharing and implementing strategies across systems can transform institutions. Relying on semester grades and informal conversations to facilitate collaboration is not enough to mitigate barriers. Ongoing, regular and effective communication, conversations about data, and action planning will support increased student access and success in dual enrollment. Establishing communities of practice with school and college counselors, teachers and faculty, and those involved in administering dual enrollment partnerships is critical for continuous improvement. The table below includes examples of focus areas for communities of practice and what roles might be included.

Take College to Students

Vision 2030 takes the stance that when students cannot access college, the college must go to the students. CCAP dual enrollment provides partnerships with the greatest opportunity to engage a diverse group of learners at scale by bringing college to the high school. CCAP partnerships can be led by community college districts, school districts, charter-governing bodies and county offices of education. For CCAP, the term “high school” includes community schools, continuation high schools, juvenile court schools, and adult education programs that offer high school diplomas or high school equivalency certificates. By bringing college to students, CCAP provides access to early college credit in nontraditional education settings.

County Offices of Education

County offices of education (COEs) serve students that comprehensive school districts may be unable to adequately serve. They provide students and families alternatives to traditional high schools. Depending on the COE, they may have special programs to serve students who are newcomers, migrants, students with (dis)abilities who need extra support, and juvenile justice-impacted students. Juvenile court schools provide public education for juveniles who are incarcerated in facilities run by county probation departments. These schools are located in juvenile halls, juvenile homes, day centers, ranches, camps, and regional youth education facilities. They are operated by the county board of education in the county in which the facility is located.

Adult Schools

Adult schools, which are often run by school districts, support students in a variety of educational goals including learning trades, becoming more proficient in English, and completing a high school diploma or equivalency. Adult students who are completing a high school diploma or high school equivalency certificate are eligible for dual enrollment. Partnerships can offer structured pathways that include dual enrollment opportunities that accelerate completion of a high school diploma and a college certificate or degree. While adults are not required to have a high school diploma or equivalency to enroll in a California community college, finishing their secondary credential can help students gain AB 540 status. A high school diploma or an equivalent is often a requirement for employment. Adult students who are in an eligible college credit-bearing career pathway and an adult school high school diploma or equivalency program may also qualify for federal financial aid through Ability to Benefit (ATB).

Rural High Schools

Students in rural communities may have specific needs that dual enrollment partnerships need to meet. With large distances between high schools and colleges, there may be fewer available instructors. Access to technology and reliable broadband may also be challenging. Partnerships may also need to pay special attention to providing supports for students in remote locations. This is especially important for students taking courses in a virtual modality.

Juvenile Justice Facilities

Juvenile justice-impacted students may be attending court school in a number of different types of facilities such as juvenile halls, juvenile homes, day centers, ranches, camps, and regional youth education facilities. Creating dual enrollment opportunities for students in detention may involve a number of different partners. Each facility may have different restrictions that will affect how courses may be delivered and what materials students may have access to. Faculty and counselors should receive logistical training specific to the facility as well as professional development on trauma-informed practices. The Rising Scholars Network has a number of resources and a technical assistance team within the Foundation for California Community Colleges that can support your partnership.

Getting Started: Creating Effective Outreach and Recruitment

Planning dual enrollment outreach and recruitment

• • Gather data to uncover which students are currently accessing dual enrollment. See the Data section for more information.
  • Identify any gaps and student groups on which to focus recruitment efforts and create more equitable access.
  • Assess your starting point:
    • What outreach methods is your partnership currently using?
    • What partner organizations could reach priority student groups?
    • What events or locations might best reach families of priority student groups?
    • What materials do you need to develop? Do you need translation support or interpretation services?
  • Develop your outreach team. It should include counselors, outreach staff, instructors and, if possible, students and community members.
  • Collect student and family data. What do students and families know about dual enrollment? What are their aspirations for college?

Assessing efficacy of outreach and recruitment for dual enrollment

• • Collect and incorporate feedback from students and families to refine your outreach efforts.
  • Collect access data.
  • Review and analyze data. Are gaps in access changing?
  • Refer to the Data section for additional ways to assess efficacy.