Dual Enrollment Can Boost Students Toward Credentials for Careers
Report offers ideas for states to advance their programs
Dual enrollment holds the promise of accelerating high school students’ route to postsecondary education and in-demand careers. A new report from the Southern Regional Education Board highlights promising programs to help states realize that potential.
Dual Enrollment Across SREB States: Credentials, Workforce and Student Success spotlights how states are addressing which students have access to the courses, how much they cost and how they help students earn valuable credentials.
“With dual enrollment, students can earn credentials that align with workforce needs while they’re still in high school,” said Dale Winkler, SREB vice president for school improvement. “It should be available to a broad group of students, not just an exclusive option for the academically advanced.”
Dual enrollment: College courses taught to high school students for both college and high school credit
A few examples from the promising approaches to dual enrollment covered in the report:
- Louisiana uses dual enrollment as a key strategy to expand the number of people enrolled in postsecondary education.
- Tennessee has expanded open educational resources into high schools through statewide dual credit.
- West Virginia’s Grow Your Own Pathway to Teaching aligns high school and postsecondary curriculum through dual enrollment to strengthen the teacher pipeline in the state.
Dual Enrollment Programs in SREB States
All SREB states offer dual enrollment ─ college courses offered to high school students for both high school and college credit. Programs are structured differently state-to-state, and the report details how dual enrollment is organized and funded, as well as which students are eligible and how course quality is determined.
SREB has updated this information annually to allow policymakers to spot similarities, differences and opportunities among states.
Dual Enrollment Legislation
In the SREB region, 14 of 16 states enacted dual enrollment legislation in the last four years. Dual Enrollment Across SREB States details 2022 legislation that addressed, for example, how much high school students can be charged for courses, how institutions apply credit, and how the state funds dual enrollment programs.
SREB staff are monitoring legislation during 2023 sessions as well.
SREB’s Dual Enrollment Initiative
The SREB Dual Enrollment Advisory Panel has engaged policymakers, state and local educational leaders, and K-12 and postsecondary educators since 2019 to identify and share promising policies and practices. The new report summarizes the work of the SREB Dual Enrollment Initiative to date and lays out its agenda for 2023-24.
The initiative has identified common challenges facing SREB states, for both students (access, eligibility and cost) and programs (quality, transfer, funding, data and reporting).
Now the SREB Dual Enrollment Initiative will begin offering technical assistance to help states advance dual enrollment as a way for high school students to complete college credentials aligned with workforce readiness. The advisory panel will also explore ways to help instructors gain credentials to teach dual credit courses and improve their quality.