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  • Writer's pictureRogéair D. Purnell, PhD

Are We Scaling Dual Enrollment for Equity or Reinforcing the Status Quo?

This is a story about developing dual enrollment focused on equity-rooted experiences that lead to true mobility. It is particularly relevant in this moment. 


The California Community Colleges’ Vision 2030 seeks to reach students impacted by increasing income inequality and poverty and improve their postsecondary attainment, in part through a “dual enrollment for all” approach. In that expansion remains a need to pause and think more critically about the models we are growing and their impacts on the communities we serve. 


If our goal is simply to increase postsecondary enrollment through dual enrollment, it can be done. However, I would urge for us to consider if we are building towards equity through this movement or reinforcing pathways for students who are already college bound. These choices can have substantially positive or detrimental impacts on historically underrepresented and marginalized students experiencing college for the first time. 


Life Academy of Health and Bioscience, Class of 2017
Life Academy of Health and Bioscience, Class of 2017

My experience shows we can do differently and be better for all of California’s students.


In 2015, I taught in a small high school seeking to prepare students for careers in health and the biosciences in the Bay Area. Through an academy structure, our students took contextualized core courses and health and science electives. The school successfully graduated and matriculated a significant portion of our population, despite the historically disenfranchised reputation of its community.


At the same time, we witnessed many reverse transfers, with students returning home from universities within their first year. These outcomes led to dire impacts on students’ confidence and resilience to continue with college.


Given our intention to support underserved students in attaining degrees and economic mobility, we surveyed our assets. The school had a course to train students as medical assistants but lacked the structure to provide certificated career training through college pathway programs. Over four years, we developed a medical assisting program using a dual enrollment approach, offering students a triple win: high school credit; purposeful college units; and an in-demand, occupational certification.


Because we delivered our dual enrollment coursework on our high school campus, we worked to cultivate an authentic college experience for our students. We held the class before their standard high school day to differentiate their college coursework in their schedule. Students wore medical scrubs, literally dressing the part of a future medical assistant.


I was the course instructor, serving as both high school teacher and college faculty. This duality allowed me to effectively build a program around secondary students’ needs and provided me with the flexibility to navigate conditions that can negatively impact a dual enrollment experience.


For example, I knew the culture and the daily life of the high school campus and used those insights to inform my dual enrollment classroom. And I was able to view students as whole people, living an entire experience at school. That vantage point made both a notable difference in how I was able to connect with participants, and in turn, how they engaged with me and the class.


I had the authority and capacity to hold both roles, which also proved an advantage when supporting students with their course progress. Students received consistent feedback and updates on their grades as well as timely supports to strengthen their success. I straddled operational requirements for both institutions—like managing attendance—without needing to review contracts and designating someone to do it.


I also worked diligently to cultivate understanding and facilitate communication between the high school and college partners involved. Too often, good work can be derailed—especially in the quest for equity. From my experience this usually comes from a place of not knowing. Building bridges and inviting each other into our environments creates a culture of trust, community, and progress.


For example, my hiring was quick, completed under the direction of the partner college dean. As is often the case, the dean failed to engage the Medical Assisting (MA) program in my onboarding as an adjunct faculty. As you can imagine, this created unintentional frustration and tension between the college’s MA faculty and our dual enrollment program.


In the spirit of improving relations, I invited the college’s lead MA instructor to observe my class as often as they’d like. Perhaps this approach is not the traditional way in a college setting, but it is a K–12 norm that supports transparency and trust. They took me up on my offer and during the first visit, they asked to stay the whole day and engaged with my other non-dual enrollment courses.



While that instructor was initially resolved in their resistance towards our dual enrollment program, the extended olive branch and opportunity to connect with my students and me allowed for a shift in thinking. They were grateful for the opportunity to observe my instruction and reported new insights as a result.


Through these efforts, our intentions and impact ultimately aligned. We grew participation in our dual enrollment program—serving both our high school students and even attracting community members. Most graduates went to on to became medical assistants while completing additional college degrees. Many later secured their Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) certification, attended medical school, or pursued other health care professions.


These ground-level experiences prepared me substantively for subsequent roles as a technical assistance provider. I next worked to connect the most marginalized students and schools to dual enrollment opportunities. I collaborated on numerous efforts across the state to engage groups most often left out of experiences that make college attainable, including students in alternative and continuation schools, community schools, and juvenile justice institutions.


For example, I worked with the Alameda County Office of Education and Restoring Our

Communities (ROC)—based at Laney College in Oakland—to develop a customized dual

enrollment program for students in the youth justice system. Multiple partners and an influx of state funding drove this effort, with the impetus to address the college and career readiness indicator for the California School Dashboard aimed at improving student learning.


Designing dual enrollment in a juvenile justice institution required a high level of coordination among several partners from the high school, college, county office of education, the parole system, and more. To determine the dual enrollment course and its surrounding supports, we worked collectively to poll the interest of the student population, assess the capacity of the instructional and counseling staff, and evaluate the high school’s needs.


To accommodate the unpredictable enrollment that comes with students flowing in and out of the system, we opted for a 10-week model that centered on a Computer Literacy course with African American Studies workshops and designated counseling for all students in the program.


The approach wasn’t without its hurdles (Figure 1). Completing the California Community College application with unknown student contact information. Internet servers blocking necessary pages. Getting clearance to be on-site. Adapting to the several restrictive protocols to move throughout the facility. We came to understand the numerous ways the educators and administrators involved would have to be flexible, adaptive, and especially focused on advocating for the needs of this unique population.


Figure 1. ROC Dual Enrollment Program Development - Challenges and Solutions
Figure 1. ROC Dual Enrollment Program Development - Challenges and Solutions

Ultimately, the program was a success. While we measured course completion as the

primary outcome, students’ desire to come to class was just as important in this

community. Given the justice system context, any behaviors deemed unacceptable would restrict the course from happening. That the dual enrollment class continued from week to week was a testament to students’ motivation and yearning to learn.


As a member of the RDP Consulting’s Dual Enrollment for Equitable Completion (DE4EC)

learning and evaluation team, I now help grow the base of evidence that shows the promise of an equitable dual enrollment approach. DE4EC supports 10 California community colleges and their high school partners in growing equity-minded dual enrollment programming for historically underrepresented students, including African American/Black, Latina/o/x, and first-generation students and those experiencing economic hardship.


Through this effort, we conduct qualitative research that elevates what it takes to center equity in dual enrollment programming. Knowing the intricacies of building effective dual enrollment from both the high school and college perspectives provides deeper insights into the findings shared by the practitioners.


DE4EC evidence corroborates what I have learned first-hand: programs built on a commitment to equity can improve high school and colleges success for our state’s historically underserved learners. In alignment with my own experience, DE4EC partners are working to disrupt the status quo and truly prioritize the needs of underserved and minoritized groups. And they are leveraging dual enrollment to make the case for higher education to historically underrepresented students and their families.


They position dual enrollment as more than an enrollment strategy. In the words of one

administrator,

"Dual enrollment is equity work. Dual enrollment leads to economic mobility. Dual enrollment leads individuals to have more opportunities in the workforce to provide better opportunities for their families.”

DE4EC partners take the long view, focusing on the ways this experience can advance

students’ postsecondary attainment and economic mobility. They set goals for participation and cultivate broad investment in this approach at both the community college and high school levels.


As found in my prior roles, DE4EC research also highlights the power and potential of putting students at the center of designing dual enrollment programs. DE4EC partners are creating holistic student experiences, inclusive of both instruction and support, and shifting their own practices to meet dual enrollment participants where they are with what they need.


They are removing application barriers, so students don’t feel turned away at the college’s front door. They are selecting course offerings that build students’ understanding of specific career paths, facilitate their mobility, and help them get a head start on degree and/or transfer requirements. They are rethinking where courses are offered to optimize participation and ensure access to instructors with the understanding of the student population engaged.


Baseline data show that students involved in dual enrollment through DE4EC community colleges and their high school partners have positive educational outcomes compared to their peers who don’t participate. They show higher rates of postsecondary enrollment after high school graduation and stronger course completion and retention in their first full year in college.


As important, these students report building confidence and resilience. And they describe the radiating impact their dual enrollment experiences have on their families and communities. As one student said:


You want to not only make yourself proud, but your parents proud too. If I can be the first person to do it and being the older brother … I want to show an example for my younger siblings that, “Hey you, we can do it.” Like … I created [this path], you guys can follow it, or you guys can make your own path.

Looking forward, California is at a critical juncture as it plans to radically expand dual enrollment. If we simply expand the models that widely exist, we run the risk

of replicating long-standing inequities in dual enrollment programs and missing the mark of our state’s goals. Yet, the current context offers us a real opportunity to be more expansive and inclusive in both our thinking and actions.


Presently, there is elevated support to corral community college and high school leaders across the state to strengthen the pipeline to college and career for each

K−12 learner. Backed by the legislature, the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office is providing technical assistance within these intersegmental spaces through regional coordinators, district-backed pathway coordinators, consortium-led regional directors, and several other roles and resources.


Further, the state is now providing significant energy and financial support to the development of dual enrollment programs for justice impacted students. In coordination with Rising Scholars, California aims to take college to students most disenfranchised by our systems and community. These systemic investments offer me great hope.


As I consider this push toward dual enrollment for all, I hold in mind the lessons of building for equitable impact gleaned through over a decade of experience in the dual enrollment space and the mounting evidence provided by both DE4EC and other research.


Scaled, equity-minded dual enrollment will require purposeful choices, starting with which students and communities to prioritize so we do not systematically exclude marginalized groups yet again. Truly involving underrepresented students and those farthest from opportunity in dual enrollment will require not just a rethink of this programming at comprehensive high schools, but also the inclusion of alternative school sites, justice centers, and community schools.


It must also involve site- and student-specific design and backwards planning from the needs of those focal groups and communities to position them for success. It will require culturally responsive and contextually appropriate outreach, strategic course selection and delivery, and student-centered support to ensure participants thrive in their initial college experiences. And it will mean regular use of data to assess progress and outcomes and determine areas for improvement.


While these choices may be difficult and innovative thinking necessary, these opportunities can yield transformative results—supported by research and students alike. These students cannot be left out yet again.


Ample experience shows that equity-centered dual enrollment is possible. While I highlight just a couple of programs, there are numerous throughout the state. We must continue to diversify these models. We must not understate the capacity it requires to design and sustain dual enrollment programs for the students—and institutions—most needing of our attention. And we cannot underestimate the positive impact these efforts can have—today and for generations to come.

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