Economic Equity: A Formula for Bringing Dual Enrollment to ALL Students

A Solution to the Postsecondary Enrollment Decline

It’s a fact. To have the best chance of gaining economic parity within our society, education and/or training after high school is a necessity. Yet for far too many high school students, the vision of themselves continuing their education, whether it is at a university, community college, or in a certificate or industry-approved training program, in their minds is beyond their reach, much less their understanding of how to achieve that goal.

“If as a country we want to help all of our citizens achieve equity, the conversation must include strategies to ensure ALL students have the same opportunity to achieve economic equality,” said Mindy Bingham, best-selling author of the Career Choices series and awardee of the Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition for Innovative Approaches to Curricula by the United States Congress and The Breaking Traditions Award from the Equity Council of the national Association for Career and Technical Education. “This can be done by embracing the new California Community College Chancellor’s plan to enroll every ninth grader student in a college course through dual enrollment.” Known as the ninth grade strategy, every incoming freshman is enrolled in a college course and develops a college education plan which includes at least 12 college credits while in high school.

Dual enrollment provides students the opportunity to take college courses while still in high school. This educational strategy has been shown to be an effective strategy for not only equity but also high school and college completion, matriculation into postsecondary education and training, and student success in Guided Pathways. Currently, only 6% of ninth graders take dual enrollment in California during their first year in high school.

Under the leadership of Kylie Campbell, Director of Outreach Services and Early College for the Kern Community College District, the Get Focused…Stay Focused!® program initiated at Bakersfield College in 2016, has evolved to an institutionalized strategy for student success. In the last seven years, since the district pioneered the Get Focused…Stay Focused!® program starting in the ninth grade, the results in growth of dual enrollment have been phenomenal as the graph below shows––the number of high school attendees in dual enrollment courses grew from 4,216 to 34,086.

This past June, 175 Kern County students graduated with an associate degree from community college—days or weeks before receiving their high school diploma. And they all started with the ninth grade Get Focused…Stay Focused!® course.

Here is some of the replicable advice for those college/high school partnerships that Kylie Campbell delivered at the 2023 Get Focused Stay Focused Conference held at the University of California, Santa Barbara in June.

Start in the ninth grade: From the data Dr. Sonya Christian experienced while President of Bakersfield College and Chancellor of the Kern Community College District, it’s little wonder that as the new California Community College Chancellor she is making it a goal to enroll every ninth grader in a college course.
Require the ninth grade course for all students: To reach the goal of equity, all students––not just higher performing students––must have the opportunity to see themselves as college students. If a student doesn’t pass with their first attempt the first semester, they take it again. In the example Campbell presented, 100% of MacFarland students passed.
Choose a college level course where 14-year-olds can experience success: Don’t start all ninth grade students in college level English or math. Work to design a program where students can experience the success that will then drive their motivation to succeed. Why? Because they see themselves capable of doing college level work.
Get students career committed and career focused in the beginning: As their ninth grade course, Kern Community College District chose a career and life planning course using the Career Choices and Changes curriculum, which is the foundation of the Get Focused…Stay Focused!® program. Culminating with a 10-year skills-based education and career plan, each student’s personalized path through high school, into college and/or training, and then on to the workforce provides the motivation to continue to enroll in dual enrollment courses throughout high school.
Opt-out instead of opt-in: Arrange for all students to be registered for college credit and then allow them to opt out if they can’t handle it, rather than making students and their families deal with the registration system that is already too cumbersome.
Launch where it will be most appreciated: If you are getting resistance in your district or your region, choose the schools where the families and students never thought they’d have an opportunity to go to college, such as those farthest from the college. The program will be most appreciated there. Then, when the other schools/colleges in the area see the results, they’ll come on board.
Call it what it is: Early College: Brand your dual enrollment program with a title that students and their parents can quickly understand and embrace. After all, this program is basically just what it sounds like––going to college early. Other names such as dual enrollment, articulation, concurrent enrollment, etc. while important to educators and administrators mean nothing to the families who need to buy into this concept.
Do not use the term “counseling” in your title or description: Use of “counseling” will limit who can teach the course (due to minimum qualifications required for counseling). If you want 100% of your freshmen to have this course you want to open up who can teach it. In Kern Community College District, they use the top codename Career Guidance and Orientation.
Just do it: Assume that dual enrollment is a program your high school and/or college wants to––and needs to––offer. Work with those individuals, departments, and leaders who are innovators and action oriented. Work around the nay-sayers because every student deserves this chance.
Don’t reinvent the wheel: There is no time to waste. Get advice from schools and colleges that have done it successfully.
1. Call the California Community College Chancellor’s office for advice and support.
2. Contact the team supporting Get Focused…Stay Focused!® for support.
3. Share this video of Kylie Campbell’s presentation with your team.