Expanding Dual Enrollment as an Equity Tool

This page provides resources on expanding access and increasing equity for a variety of student populations. 

DE Spotlight Presentations at our monthly Bay Region Dual Enrollment Exchange meetings often highlight equity conversations. For example, check out the summary of Wheelhouse & Pace Research presentation on the DE Spotlight page. 

Expanding Populations Served by Dual Enrollment

• A Strong Start for College and Career: Dual Enrollment Participation from 9th to 12th Grade  (Wheelhouse & PACE, February 2024): Provides data and insights into dual enrollment pattersn in California. 

• Improving College Access and Success through Dual Enrollment (PPIC, August 2023) Evaluation of the impact of CCAP dual enrollment on the populations it is intended to serve. Interviews with CCAP representatives from 13 community colleges helped PPIC gain insight into efforts that had made the CCAP program a success and areas where the program still faced challenges. (Video) 

• Data: College in High School Programs & Data: Reporting and Using Dual Enrollment Data to Improve Equity (College in High School Alliance, November 2021) Includes: 

  • Why reporting of dual enrollment data by states matters,

  • The primary approaches to reporting dual enrollment data,

  • How to improve dual enrollment data reporting,

  • Profiles of six states’ progress (Colorado, Hawaii, Indiana, Louisiana, Kentucky, and Washington), and

  • A compilation of all state-level dual enrollment data reporting.

• Rethinking Dual Enrollment to Reach More Students (2018) Discusses state approaches that systematically broaden dual enrollment access and provide pre-collegiate experiences to middle- and lower-achieving students.

• Jumpstart: Setting Goals to Drive Equitable Dual Enrollment Participation in California’s Community Colleges: The report analyzes data from the community colleges across the state to see if we’re equitably serving Black, Native, and Latinx students through dual enrollment  and finds that we are not yet doing so, and outlines a policy and practice agenda that K-12 and community college leaders can implement to jumpstart efforts for more equitable dual enrollment practices.

  • The accompanying data tool visually represents the levels of racial equity in dual enrollment across CA’s high school and community college districts. This is a great tool for local education leaders to evaluate the level of racial representation in their dual enrollment programs.  

• Dual Enrollment for Students from Special Populations: Improving College Transitions for English Learners, Students with Disabilities, Foster Youth, and Young People Experiencing Homelessness (JFF) (February 2021) 

  • Dual Enrollment for Special Populations: Leveraging a High-Impact Strategy for California’s Most Underserved Students (April 1st, 2021)  Wheelhouse & JFF presentation recording

• Unlocking Potential:  A State Policy Roadmap for Equity and Quality in College in High School Programs for Students With Disabilities (2021) College in High School Alliance brings together context for how to  being intentional about closing equity gaps, accurately measuring them and how to create accountability to close the gaps.

• Black Student Success in Dual Enrollment: A Case Study (Presentation) (CABSE 2021, from Career Ladders Project (CLP))

• Dual Enrollment Non-Credit to Meet High School Requirements (Cabrillo College) Provides guidance on how high schools can accept non-credit dual enrollment classes to meet high school requirements. 

• Infographics: How does dual enrollment pave a smoother path to college for Black and Latinx Students in California?

  • JUMPSTART How does dual enrollment pave a smoother path to college for Latinx students in California? 

  • JUMPSTART How does dual enrollment pave a smoother path to college for Black students in California? 

• AB 102  College and Career Access Pathways partnerships : This bill extends those provisions related to CCAP partnerships indefinitely and add language specify that “high school,” as used in the bill, includes a community school, juvenile court school, or adult education program . The bill would also authorize county offices of education to enter into CCAP partnerships with the governing boards of community college districts in accordance with these provisions.  This expanded definition is critical to extending the reach of dual enrollment to a broader set of student populations. 

  • CCAP with ROPs (CCAP Example): CCAPs are allowable with ROPs. This is an example CCAP agreement between a community college and an ROP. 

Adult Education

• CAEP Adult Dual Enrollment: Lessons and Opportunities (High Road Alliance) (Slides)

• Advance Adult Dual Enrollment for Your Community (California Edge Coalition, May 2024) A one pager for adult education students outlining the benefits of dual enrollment. 

• Ability to Benefit: Dual Enrollment (National College Transition Network) Provides extensive resources on Ability to Benefit (A2B) which is underutilized to benefit adult school students. 

  • Includes a link to the Ability to Benefit State Leadership (June 2020) webinar.  

• Transitioning Adult Learners to College A User Guide for Ability to Benefit and Adult Dual Enrollment  (CLP February 2023)

• CCCD Adult Ed K12 Supplemental Application Form Completion Process (Golden West Process)  Good example of adult dual enrollment process flow. 

Students with Disabilities

• California Alternative Pathways to a High School Diploma Workgroup Report  Provides workgroup findings regarding existing and potential additional pathways to a high school diploma for students with disabilities. The report could be used to inform development of pathways that meet the needs of this student group. 

Foster Youth

• Dual Enrollment for Foster Youth: Toward Effective Practice (February 2022 from CLP) Lessons learned from a 16-month pilot project with three sites across California (the San Francisco Bay Area, Greater Los Angeles, and the Inland Empire ) to explore what it might take to support foster youth in dual enrollment.

MLL Learners

• Overview of California’s Approach to Supporting Multilingual Learners (March 2025)

• Designing Dual Enrollment to Reach English Learners: Boosting College Success for California Students (JFF)

• Office of Civil Rights brief on dual enrollment and other opportunities for English learners

• Opening the Dual Enrollment Door Wider for English Learners: A Case Study From Maryland

• CDE: 

  • CDE MLL

  • Illustrative Example: Dual Enrollment California English Learner Roadmap (CA EL Roadmap) Illustrative Example from the Mountain Empire Unified School District and Cuyamaca College on Dual Enrollment for English learners.

  • Based on the ELD Roadmap (CDE)

• Dual enrollment and multilingual English learners: From equity gaps toward solutions (New Direction for Community Colleges, 27 July 2024)

• Dual Enrollment for Students from Special Populations: Improving College Transitions for English Learners, Students with Disabilities, Foster Youth, and Young People Experiencing Homelessness (JFF)

• Ensuring English Learner Students Can Participate Meaningfully and Equally in Educational Programs (US Department of Education)

• Supporting English-language Learners—Strategies for Instructors (CLP)

• English Learners' Pathways in California’s Community Colleges Under AB 705 (PACE)

• Multilingual LearnerMA Toolkit Oakland Unified School District | English Language Learner & Multilingual Achievement: ELLMA develops guidance, resources, and professional learning to ensure English Language Learners progress toward reclassification and ultimately, the Seal of Biliteracy upon graduation. Together, we prepare OUSD students to thrive in a multilingual world.

• The State of English Learners (Californians Together June 2024)

• CaliforniansTogether.org: A statewide advocacy coalition from the education community whose goal is to better educate 1.1 million English learners by improving California’s schools and promoting equitable educational policy

• Examples: 

  • World House Newcomer program - Tennyson High School

  • Dual Enrollment for English Learners: A Model for Implementation (Dual Enrollment Equity Conference)

  • MLL & Dual Enrollment (San Diego Dual Enrollment COP) 

  • Opening the Dual Enrollment Door Wider for English Learners: A Case Study From Maryland (CCRC)

  • Integrated ELD in the ELA Classroom (San Bernardino)

Justice System Involved Youth

• Rising Scholars Network  AB 417 authorized the Chancellor Office of the California Community Colleges to establish this program to enter into agreements with up to 50 community colleges to provide additional funds for services in support of postsecondary education for justice-involved students. The website provides resources and information that will help inform programs serving this population.  Their website has many resources for practitioners. 

• California Department of Corrections & Rehabilitation (CDCR) website: Regulations and policies when working with prisons. 

  • Department Operations Manual (DOM)

• Underground Scholars Language Guide  Provides guidance on humanizing language to use when discussing individual or group identities and experiences in work with individuals involved in the carceral system. 

• Youth Justice Initiative Application Deep Dive + Dual Enrollment (Rising Scholars) (February 2nd, 2023)

  • Slides

  • Recording

• Disability justice and the intersection of Rising Scholars and SAS/DSPS  (Rising Scholars) (March 30th, 2023)

  • Slides

  • Recording 

• How colleges can work across district lines to serve a single correctional facility  (Rising Scholars) (October 28th, 2022)

  • Slides

  • Recording

Equity & Dual Enrollment

• College acceleration for all? Mapping racial gaps in Advanced Placement and dual enrollment participation (December 2020) Di Xu, Sabrina Solanki, and John Fink: Discusses the patterns of racial enrollment gaps in AP and DE programs across thousands of US school districts. To explain these racial disparities in college acceleration programs,  analyzes how school-related and non-school factors influence these gaps. 

• Broadening the Benefits of Dual Enrollment: Reaching Underachieving and Underrepresented Students with Career-Focused Programs (2012) This research study from the Community College Research Study (CCRC)  informed AB 288 legislation. 

• The Dual Enrollment Playbook: A Guide to Equitable Acceleration for Students  (2020)  The Aspen Institute and Community College Research Center has created a playbook that identifies five principles and the supporting strategies and practices through which community colleges and K-12 leaders can advance equity in high-quality dual enrollment and developed equity tools for assessing equitable practices at community colleges and high schools.

  • Leading With Equity in Dual Enrollment (Aspen Institute Webinar)

• Funding for Equity: Designing State Dual Enrollment Funding Models to Close Equity Gaps (October 2019) Provides insights that will help guide state policy agendas. Funding guidance for states, school districts, & colleges. 

• Equitable Transitions During Pandemic Disruptions (June 2020) This report highlights a recommendation to strengthen statewide dual enrollment to improve systems alignment because strong dual enrollment programs serve as a clear on-ramp to a credential of value. 

• How Equitable Is Access to AP and Dual Enrollment Across States and School Districts? (January 2021 CCRC) Interactive map which shows state, district-level, and school-level participation in AP and dual enrollment coursework by gender and race/ethnicity.

• Prioritizing Equity in Dual Enrollment (2020) From the Education Commission of the United States, defines dual enrollment and common barriers to entry for historically underserved student populations. It identifies three opportunities for policies to expand access and make it more equitable.

• A Leg Up on College: The Scale & Distribution of Community College Participation Among California High School Students (2020) & Rising the Tide (follow-up): Research from Wheelhouse, PACE and the CA EdLab matches high school and community college datasets to provide a clearer picture of college course-taking among California public high school students statewide 

• A Guide to Launching and Expanding Dual Enrollment Programs for Historically Underserved Students in California (RP Group , 2014) Developed by the Research and Planning (RP) Group for California Community Colleges in partnership with the California Community College Chancellor’s Office and the San Joaquin Delta Community College District to assist and inform secondary and postsecondary partners who are considering launching or expanding dual enrollment programs for underrepresented minority (URM) populations to offer insights into and highlight resources and tools.

• Dual Enrollment and Guided Pathways Converge for Equity: A Case Study (CLP November 2019) This report explores how Bakersfield College pursued and implemented dual enrollment and how it converges with the pursuit of equity in Guided Pathways redesign. 

• It Begins With Us: The Case for Student Equity (Community College League of California 2015) Lays out an argument for Community Colleges to focus on student equity. 

• College in High School Programs & Data: Reporting and Using Dual Enrollment Data to Improve Equity (College in High School Alliance & Data Quality Campaign 2021) As a cornerstone of establishing the policy environment necessary to support increased college access and success for students through dual enrollment, states, school districts, and colleges must collect, publicly report, and use data on participation and success in these opportunities.

• OER in Dual Enrollment: Leveraging Open Educational Resources to Expand Equitable Access (October 2021) This report from SREB and the Midwestern Higher Education Compact provides an overview of policies across 50 states and recommendations on OER adoption and usage examines how the use of open educational resources (OER) can make dual enrollment courses more cost-effective and increase college access for more students.  

  • Find additional OER resources under the  Supporting Dual Enrollment Instructors & Highlighting Best Practices sections of this website.