Last spring’s higher education enrollment data showed that the pandemic-induced plunges might finally be leveling off; but digging a level deeper reveals that without high school students, community college enrollment would still be plummeting.
You read that right: high school students.
High school students taking dual enrollment classes now make up nearly one in five community college enrollments. From spring 2022 to spring 2023, there was an 8% jump in the enrollment of community college students under the age of 18, nearly all of whom are dual enrollment students. The size of that bump masked flat enrollment numbers for traditional-aged community college students and a continued decline in enrollments among students over the age of 24.
There is a good reason for the big uptick in high school students taking college-level courses. Research shows that those who participate in dual enrollment opportunities and obtain those early college credits are more likely to enroll and succeed in college, making it a powerful strategy for closing equity gaps for students of color and from low-income families who might not otherwise see themselves as “college material.”
But here’s the rub: it matters which and how many dual enrollment courses students take. When students take a sequence of dual enrollment courses tied to the postsecondary pathways they’re interested in pursuing, the results are much better. “Random acts of dual enrollment,” on the other hand, don’t necessarily give students an on-ramp to meaningful college or career opportunities.
One promising approach to avoiding randomness in favor of more coherent, meaningful dual enrollment experiences is to package them into pathways that enable students to accelerate their time to earning a postsecondary credential—particularly in high-demand career fields like IT and healthcare where those credentials are highly valued by employers. This trend is growing as communities across the country are looking for ways to respond to the talent needs of employers while reducing the overall cost of obtaining a postsecondary degree or credential for students.
Though the specifics of each of these “accelerated pathway” programs differ, students generally earn enough college credits while still in high school to put them on a fast track to earn a postsecondary credential (usually an associate degree) in an in-demand field after they graduate. The programs are structured to include embedded work-based learning opportunities, like internships, as well as advising support to give students a helping hand to navigate toward success. And to ensure that these programs have the desired effect of reducing higher education inequities, the leaders who are designing them are working to offer them at minimal or no cost to students.
Massachusetts is an early leader in this work and offers a great example of how carefully designed accelerated pathways can pay off for students. The state has been piloting an Early College Promise Program in several districts across the state, allowing students to defer their high school diploma for an extra year to take a full course load of college classes and earn an associate degree or 60 transferable college credits. Students can pursue education and training in fields that are growing in their region, such as healthcare, business, computer science, education and criminal justice. The program is optional and offered at no cost to students and their families, thanks to leadership and commitment at the state level.
While there is still work to be done, there are promising indicators of success in the program so far. Partnerships between seven high schools and seven colleges served an initial 77 students, with participation set to nearly double in the third year of the pilot. Over 80% of participating students continued on the college path last year, far exceeding the 60% of students statewide who continue on to college immediately after high school. Leaders of the Massachusetts effort are optimistic about the momentum they are building and hope to lift the pilot’s enrollment cap in a couple of years so that more students can benefit.
Another promising example comes out of Illinois. Here, leaders have taken a regional approach and focused on delivering accelerated pathways to degrees in Information Technology in an initial 19 schools across three Chicago-area districts (including Chicago Public Schools). Students can earn college credits in programming, web development and cybersecurity while also engaging in internships and exploring different IT careers and workplaces, all in alignment with the state’s innovative College and Career Pathway Endorsement framework. Recognizing the importance of intentionality and early career exploration, leaders of this work in Illinois are making a serious effort to build stronger connections with students who are historically underrepresented in the IT industry; in particular, Black, Latinx and female learners. They are also ramping up the capacity of support staff explicitly dedicated to helping students succeed in these pathways and offering them guidance every step of the way.
I expect we will see many more examples of the purposeful blending of high school and college in the years ahead. It’s a smart way to respond to concerns about the rising costs of college while recognizing the economic value that college credentials continue to offer in many of the fastest growing fields. As the promise of accelerated pathways to degrees and careers catches on, leaders like those in Massachusetts, Illinois and other communities across the country are showing the way forward.
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