A Spotlight on Equitable Dual Enrollment Experiences.

Equitable dual enrollment ensures that historically underrepresented students access and succeed in programs that enroll high school students in college credit coursework. Conducted by RDP (Rogéair Damone Purnell) Consulting, this research examined the work of 10 California community college and high school partnerships intentionally prioritizing historically underrepresented students for dual enrollment via a collaborative initiative titled, Dual Enrollment for Equitable Completion. This article presents a subset of insights from a multiyear (2021-2024), mixed-methods study, focusing on high-level findings from qualitative interviews. Results demonstrate that: (a) equitable approaches strengthen students' dual enrollment experiences; (b) dual enrollment cultivates academic self-efficacy; and (c) design and implementation choices challenge dual enrollment efforts. Recommendations show that dual enrollment partnerships must aim to: (a) strengthen high school students' connections to California community colleges; (b) engage dual enrollment instructors in professional development; and (c) continue to find ways to embed support into the standard dual enrollment experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]