VIEW ALL

Dual Enrollment

Envisioning Dual Enrollment

High School Leadership

Vision 2030 and the California State Plan for Career Technical Education (CTE) both name dual enrollment as a strategy for serving students, making it an essential area of focus for both colleges and high schools.

Students who participate in dual enrollment graduate high school and matriculate to college at higher rates. These students also have higher persistence and completion rates. Students in groups that are the focus of CCAP programs often benefit most.

Broadening the Benefits of Dual Enrollment: Reaching Underachieving and Underrepresented Students with Career-Focused Programs (2012)

This research study from the Community College Research Center (CCRC) informed AB 288 legislation.

Early College, Early Success: Early College High School Initiative Study (2013)

American Institutes for Research / Gates Foundation research focusing on two questions: 1. Do Early College students have better outcomes than they would have had at other high schools? 2. Does the impact of Early Colleges vary by student background characteristics (e.g. gender and family income)?

What We Know About Dual Enrollment (2012) Community College Research Center:

This overview synthesizes and summarizes CCRC and NCPR findings on dual enrollment outcomes, presents a case study of how one dual enrollment program increased participation of low-income and underrepresented students, and lays out guiding questions to consider when implementing a dual enrollment program.

The Dual Enrollment Playbook: A Guide to Equitable Acceleration for Students

(2020) The Aspen Institute and Community College Research Center identify five principles and the supporting strategies and practices through which community colleges and K-12 leaders can advance equity in high-quality dual enrollment.

Data from the both community college and their dual enrollment partners provides critical context when developing a dual enrollment partnership, informing how programs are developed and supporting evaluation of programs (check out this Checklist of Data to Track In Dual Enrollment Programs from LARC).

College dual enrollment participation data is an essential part of program evaluation and completion of at least 12 units is a Vision 2030 metric

The Chancellor’s Office updated the MIS system data elements to collect CCAP data through the MIS data upload. Review your procedures to ensure that you are utilizing the MIS correct MIS data elements.  (See Resources for Dual Enrollment Administrators for current Alchemer Links)

MIS Data Submission Resources

Chancellor’s Office Data Element Dictionary

Memorandum: Request to Report via the SG13 data element for College and Career Access Pathways

This legislation defines the conditions under which high schools must be provided a release to partner with a community college district outside of the primary community college district’s service area.

ESLEI 24-73: Guidance Memo – Senate Bill 1244, Pupil instruction: dual enrollment: College and Career Access Pathways partnerships

This bill extends those provisions related to CCAP partnerships indefinitely and adds language specifying that “high school,” as used in the bill, includes a community school, continuation high school, or juvenile court school. The bill also authorizes 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.

ESS-22-300-018 AB 102_Pupil Attendance CCAP_ County Office of Education

Reviews the impact of AB 102 legislation that came into effect January 2023.

Requires colleges to exempt all special part time (i.e. dual enrollment) students from non-resident fees (except for students on certain kinds of student or tourist visas), meaning that high school students who are not residents cannot be charged non-resident tuition (unless they are on a tourist or student visa).

Provides an overview of legislation that applies to early college and middle college high school programs.

Creating Dual Enrollment Programs

Dual Enrollment Practitioners

Stand up a new program from the ground up — getting started, the populations you’ll serve, the legislation that governs the work, the agreements and staffing behind it, and the pathways students will follow.

This legislation defines the conditions under which high schools must be provided a release to partner with a community college district outside of the primary community college district’s service area.

ESLEI 24-73: Guidance Memo – Senate Bill 1244, Pupil instruction: dual enrollment: College and Career Access Pathways partnerships

This bill extends those provisions related to CCAP partnerships indefinitely and adds language specifying that “high school,” as used in the bill, includes a community school, continuation high school, or juvenile court school. The bill also authorizes 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.

ESS-22-300-018 AB 102_Pupil Attendance CCAP_ County Office of Education

Reviews the impact of AB 102 legislation that came into effect January 2023.

Requires colleges to exempt all special part time (i.e. dual enrollment) students from non-resident fees (except for students on certain kinds of student or tourist visas), meaning that high school students who are not residents cannot be charged non-resident tuition (unless they are on a tourist or student visa).

Provides an overview of legislation that applies to early college and middle college high school programs.

Staffing on both sides of the dual enrollment partnerships is essential to an effective and high quality dual enrollment program. As programs develop, consider what types roles would best support program development and quality.

High School:

Job descriptions for dual enrollment jobs at high schools.

Community College

Job descriptions for dual enrollment jobs at community colleges.

REACH Pathway Mapping Toolkit

(Reach Collaborative, Guided Pathways Implementation Team, Foundation for California Community Colleges): A toolkit to support the mapping the current credentials within the pathway and their associated labor market outcomes, work-based learning opportunities, and holistic supports to identify gaps & needs

Dual Enrollment Pathway Implementation Roadmap

(LARC and CLP, 2025) Findings from 11 teams who participated in a Dual Enrollment Pathway Institute focused on designing equitable dual enrollment pathways.

Career Pathways Mapping Toolkit

(Career Ladders Project) Career pathways maps clarify and align programs and services; they link increasing levels of certification, education, and employment; and they support students in choosing among the opportunities that interest them. Understanding this important process is critical in creating strong dual enrollment programs.

Maintaining Dual Enrollment Programs

Practitioners Counselors Instructors

Keep a running program healthy and high-quality — organized around the principles of rigor, readiness, and relevance that keep dual enrollment true to college standards.

Program experiences build autonomy, help-seeking, and effective use of supports like tutoring, writing centers, and advising.

An essential part of expanding dual enrollment to underserved populations is ensuring students are connected to appropriate supports so they can succeed in rigorous college-level coursework. Well-supported counselors at both the high school and the community college are an essential support to students.

Expanding (Growing / Scaling) Dual Enrollment Programs

Dual Enrollment Programs

Well-designed dual enrollment programs can serve a wide variety of students who benefit from well-designed pathways with appropriate supports.

Creating a culture of dual enrollment both at high schools and community colleges means reaching all stakeholders and raising awareness about dual enrollment. Students and their parents need to learn about the opportunities and the challenges of dual enrollment to determine the fit of the program for themselves.

Campus ambassadors can support students and create a culture of dual enrollment on high school campuses.

NVC Dual Enrollment Ambassador Program Job Description
NVC Dual Enrollment Ambassador Handbook
Dual Enrollment at City College of San Francisco (November 2019)

Dual enrollment marketing video from City College of San Francisco.

Editable Dual Enrollment Program Fact Sheet

Shared by the University of Maine Early College Director via NACEP. A best practice that could be leveraged here for program awareness and marketing.

This template, shared by University of Maine Middle College, provides key dual enrollment demographics by high school for dual enrollment programs. Important information to highlight!

Completed Example
Editable Template

Evaluate the potential populations who could be served by dual enrollment in your community. Currently underserved populations that could benefit include first-generation college students, socioeconomically disadvantaged students, multi-language learners, adult school students, continuation school students, foster youth, and justice-system-involved youth.

Youth Apprenticeships can be used in conjunction with dual enrollment focused on career education dual enrollment focused on pre-apprenticeship academic needs.

Grow Apprenticeship California Regional Apprenticeship Playbook (2026)

This Playbook outlines the work done by Grow Apprenticeship California in the Los Angeles and Central Valley Mother Lode regions to build Registered Apprenticeship Programs (RAPs) that can be scaled with multiple Local Education Agencies (LEAs) and multiple employers within each region. Includes case studies for each region, as well as overall findings, resources, and recommendations that can be used and replicated across the state.

Grow Apprenticeship California Resource Compendium

Highlights some of the key resources and tools that apprenticeship stakeholders can use to expand and scale Registered Apprenticeship Programs (RAPs) in California.

Grow Apprenticeship California: From Silos to Synergy — Scaling Regional Apprenticeships

Offers practical guidance for building and sustaining collaboration among these systems—helping regional partners connect, align priorities, and strengthen apprenticeship pathways that drive equitable economic growth.

Grow Apprenticeship California K-12 Apprenticeships Factsheet

Apprenticeship fact sheets for parents, students, and educators.

CalApprenticeships.org — California Apprenticeship Coordinators Association
Advancing Apprenticeship in California: A Five-Point Action Plan (July 2022)

Of special interest is Point 4: Support Youth Apprenticeship for In-School and Out-of-School Youth on p. 16.

Launch Apprenticeship Network — Resources to identify apprenticeship programs near you
Pre-Apprenticeship from California Department of Education (CDE)

There is K-12 language with pre-apprenticeships and how this counts on the College and Career Indicator on the California Dashboard, which is an accountability measure for K-12 schools. This is a good resource when thinking about rationale in building a link partnership with K-12 pathways to post-secondary career pathways.

Mentor Guide for Youth Registered Apprenticeship Programs (Urban Institute)