Dual Enrollment Creates a Pipeline for Professional Skills, Education and Equity

City Colleges of Chicago’s Pathways to Professional Success

CCC’s programs are organized to guide students toward the subjects they want to pursue.

“We have very strategic, discipline-specific pathways built out,” says Shavon Taylor-Booker, associate vice chancellor of Early College Programming at CCC. “This includes Jump Start pathways, which are 15-credit-hour basic certificates in career and technical education courses that students take at our colleges. We also have Model pathways, where students can take coursework to prepare for careers in IT, construction, advanced manufacturing and health sciences in their high schools.”

For students taking general education classes and wanting to continue at a higher education institution after high school, CCC has agreements with 39 colleges and universities that will accept Early College coursework completed by CPS high school students. This benefits students by saving them money both immediately and over the long term. Eligible students can attend the classes for free while also completing coursework that counts toward a degree program.

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“We let students know how transfer credits work,” Taylor-Booker says. “‘This course checks this box.’ We really promote that lingo and that understanding of which general education classes students will need to complete a degree.”

Community Colleges Create Economic Nexus Points

CCC is also a partner to a new initiative, Runway 606, a collaboration between CCC, Illinois Institute of Technology and CPS to provide specific pathways for high school students into technology fields, including cybersecurity, by completing CCC Early College coursework toward an associate’s degree, then earning a bachelor’s and a master’s degree from IIT in four years. Runway 606 aims to provide advanced education opportunities to underserved local communities while building a pipeline of skilled labor to meet local business needs.

CCC’s Early College program highlights the valuable role that community colleges serve as economic nexus points, providing skills development for underserved communities. Northern Virginia Community College and its six campuses serve a similar function in their local economies.

“Our local employers are demanding a workforce that has technology skills and is adaptable,” says Cynthia Pascal, associate vice president of e-learning at NOVA. “So, we’ve built a pipeline, from high school to college to the workforce, by developing students with these skill sets.”

Northern Virginia Community College’s Focus on Tech

NOVA’s dual-enrollment program, which offers coursework at 80 participating local high schools and on its campuses, supported nearly 19,000 students in the 2023-24 school year. While NOVA offers a broad catalog of general education classes along with professional credential programs, the college offers some unique coursework particularly relevant to the local labor market. Northern Virginia is home to more than 250 data centers and is considered the largest data center market in the U.S.

To cater to the needs of this market, NOVA offers a data center operations program, resulting in either an associate’s degree or a professional certificate, and a fiber and network technician certificate program.

“Data center, cloud computing, information technology — we have state-of-the-art equipment that our dual-enrollment students have access to,” says Malcolm Pace, director of dual enrollment, outreach and recruitment at NOVA. “We also offer STEM-focused Summer Bridge programs, where we invite dual-enrollment students on campus. At the Woodbridge Campus, for example, the students get to visit the newly built data center training facility there.”

Hand in hand with the economic value that NOVA fosters is the social equity value it delivers, providing educational opportunities to underserved students.

“Our students are often first-generation, or those that didn’t think they had an opportunity to attend college because of finances,” says Kristen Carter, associate director of dual enrollment at NOVA. “Dual enrollment offers a pathway to introduce them to college-level rigor. It’s a lot less intimidating being in a familiar high school classroom than stepping onto a large college campus and not knowing where to go.”

The notion of social equity and helping to meet the needs of marginalized communities is a driving force in dual-enrollment programs across the country.

“I can say that we are seeing a paradigm shift in the field,” says Amy Williams, executive director for the National Alliance of Concurrent Enrollment Partnerships. “Dual enrollment is moving from an equity barrier to an equity builder with the potential to increase college access and success for a much broader group of students.”

DISCOVER: Industry partnerships can help community colleges meet their goals.

“Study after study reveals the wide-ranging impact of these programs on students, particularly those students who typically don’t pursue additional education or training directly after high school,” Williams says. “Research shows strong impact on students from low social-economic status backgrounds, students of color, first-generation students, lower academically performing students. With higher education facing a demographic cliff, it is important for institutions to find and engage students not considering college as an option. Dual enrollment is an impactful way to connect with the exact groups of students that colleges and universities are eager to find, engage, and support in pursuit of a degree or credential.”

South Texas College Transforms Communities With Dual-Credit

In the 25 years that South Texas College has been offering dual-credit programs to the high school students of Hidalgo and Starr Counties, the institution has educated more than 145,000 students and saved local families more than $425 million thanks to waived tuition and fees. A great many of those were first-generation students.

“Many of our students are working, helping to support their families, while in high school,” says Rebecca De Leon, associate vice president of dual-credit programs and school district partnerships at STC. “The purpose of dual credit at South Texas College is to transform our communities and offer a route to a better quality of life, which all starts with an education.”

Strong outreach to local communities plays a big part in the success of STC’s dual-credit programs, which have more than 13,000 students enrolled at 70 partnering local high school sites and on its six campuses. STC’s Dual Credit Programs Relations and Engagement team reaches out to students and families in the community to encourage enrollment.

UP NEXT: Read about dual-credit programs from the K–12 perspective.

Once high school students are enrolled in STC’s dual-credit programs, the college supports them through a variety of technology tools. Instructors use a learning management system to manage their courses and interact with students. If students struggle, they can access online tutoring services that provide 24/7 support to dual-credit students.

STC also uses a student success software program to manage student success and provide early alerts if students appear to be going off track. When teachers identify students who are not attending class or are at risk of failing, they can use this program to export data to share with the high school counselors for intervention.

“At STC, we emphasize embedding technology into the curriculum, enhancing the learning experience for students,” De Leon says. “We want students to be successful, and we’re also preparing them for the future. And technology is what’s going to connect students to that success.”