Dual enrollment courses are considered some of the best ways to prepare you for the rigour of the university-level curriculum and content.
These courses not only provide students with credit jumpstarts when they enter university, but also equip them with skills such as time management, critical thinking, and research habits, encouraging researchers to enroll and stay at university.
In recent years, the number of double-registered students has been booming. According to 2024 study Dual enrollment increased by 46% from 2015-2021 and 18% from 2021 to 2023 from 2021.
Research shows that access to these courses is also difficult, especially for students of color and low-income areas. In many cases, state policies require students to take complex exams or pay to take classes. In some areas, there may not be sufficiently qualified teachers to provide them.
This data broadened educational researchers’ understanding of dual enrollment programs, including how access differs from state to state, and which subjects are most important for dual enrollment.
Experts say dual enrollment could be an important route from high school to college, especially as seniors in high schools today are not ready to move into higher education. Most education professionals agree that K-12 schools, higher education institutions and state governments will work together to improve access to the courses and make them available to all students to make them available.
Entry barriers
John Fink, a senior researcher at the Center for Community College Research in Columbia and one of the lead authors of dual-registered studies, says students can save money and time. It also helps students explore deeper levels of content before they enter university. Beyond that, classes help students understand that they have the skills and knowledge to pursue a university degree, he says.
In a Columbia study, researchers followed students who began taking dual enrollment courses in 2015 after graduating from high school. According to their findings, 81% of students who took the double enrollment course in 2015 went to university in their first year of high school, and 42% graduated from university four years after graduating from high school.
“Building pure confidence to succeed in a university course tells the university instructor that you can do this, you’re a university student. That confidence boost is one of the first things people are the power of these courses,” says Fink.
This study showed that low-income, black, and Hispanic students were significantly underrated in the dual enrollment program. Access barriers vary from state to state, Fink says. For example, in about half of the country, students must pay to take the course. Some states have eligibility requirements, such as passing standardized tests.
Mindsets and messaging can also restrict access, Fink says. In some areas, courses are not prioritized. Students don’t know about them as education leaders may not reach out to underserved schools or underrepresented communities.
Even those who have heard of them may assume that double-registration courses are only for wealthy, high-level students, Fink says.
“Internalized messaging from communities of color and low-income communities is, “I don’t know if this whole registration is for me,” Fink adds, as students look at their options in high school.
Beyond policies and messages, the district is struggling to find qualified teachers for the course. This is an issue that has been exacerbated by the national shortage of teachers, Fink says.
Bethany Asher, Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs at Provost and Radford University, noticed this trend among the first Virginia schools in which many students come from low-income households and attend college with their families, among the first Virginia schools.
To be certified to teach dual enrollment courses through community colleges, high school instructors must have at least 18 graduate-level credits on the subject they are teaching, Usher says. For example, biology teachers require 18 graduate-level biology credits. However, in many cases, teachers have graduate degrees with an educational focus and probably did not obtain such specific coursework.
This eliminates the option for many students to obtain dual enrollment. This means they don’t realize that college is an option for them, Usher says. “But by being able to bring motivated students into these double enrollment classes, you can get a greater percentage of people who are trying to recognize that they are capable, and [will] I’m going to college,” she adds.
Better Certification Track
As such, Asher at Radford and her colleagues are working to expand their teacher certification program with the aim of improving access to dual enrollment at schools in southwestern Virginia.
Certified classes are fully online, taught asynchronously or after 5pm, and targeted experts who have already completed their master’s degrees, says Agida Manizade, interim assistant graduate assistant provost.
University staff are also considering creative and practical ways for teachers to bring materials into the classroom in a way that prepares students for higher education. For example, instructors developing ecology courses can send kits to teachers, allowing teachers to do lab work from home, says Manizede. The teacher can then meet with the instructor to discuss the lab.
Students need to be prepared for both more advanced content and university-ready thinking.
“Thinking is something we can’t control anymore,” Usher says.
The program also covers the gaps in knowledge and training at local schools. Radford staff often coordinate with the principal to determine which general education subjects lack accredited teachers. Currently, the program offers a mathematics program that can quickly include biology, English, and potentially physics or psychology.
“It’s important that it’s collaboration,” Usher says. “We have to look at all this. What do high schools need? What do community colleges need? And what can we offer?”
Experts encourage double enrollment programs to focus on important subjects like mathematics. Research from California Institute of Public Policy It has been found that the number of students enrolled in dual-registered mathematics courses has more than doubled over the past decade. Research shows that students in these courses are enrolled in the university.
However, university mathematics courses are often “gatekeeper classes” (a strict class prerequisite for learning programs) that prevent students from completing their degrees, says Olga Rodriguez, director of PPIC’s Center for Higher Education and a leading author of the report.
Many high school seniors have not taken math courses, says Rodriguez, so when they went to college they lost much of the knowledge they needed to build in college math classes. Also, upon arriving at the university, students can postpone the required mathematics course, exacerbating learning losses. By expanding access to high school dual-registered math courses, students will be prepared for college even if they are not in the STEM field.
“Dual registration is about actually expanding access, especially to groups that have not been very useful in past dual registrations,” says Rodriguez. “We know there are important courses that limit opportunities, because gatekeepers know they are bringing challenges. [to] Students achieving their goals. ”
Despite the many barriers to dual enrollment programs that still exist, some states and districts are working hard to get more students interested in trying them out.
“From a fundraising perspective, investments in these programs are continuously invested in red and blue,” Fink says.
In some districts, students learn about double enrollment in junior high schools. So once you arrive at high school you are already ready to register dual. Other districts have shown community organizations how dual enrollment can help non-high school students.
At the same time, Fink says schools can consider embedding dual registrations in their default high school tracks, so they are not booked just for high achievements.
Many universities have drawn high enrollment numbers from dual enrollment students, saying, “They are really rethinking how they are staffed and funding these programs to implement them not only as an acceleration strategy, but as an access strategy for the university.”
