Benefits of CTE Dual Enrollment: North Carolina’s Career & College Promise (CCP) is a statewide dual enrollment initiative that offers three pathways to high school students, including a CTE pathway. Recently, the CTE Research Network compared 2012-19 data on CCP CTE students in grades 11 and 12 to non-CCP students to reveal that CCP CTE students earned six times more college credits in high school, were two percentage points more likely to graduate and were 9 percentage points more likely to pursue postsecondary education than non-CCP participants. The benefits were even higher for students from economically disadvantaged households and learners from racial and ethnic groups that are historically underrepresented in postsecondary education.
Dual Credit Funding Policy: In 2016 Idaho adopted the Advanced Opportunities policy, which dedicates $4,125 of state funding to each high school student to pay for dual credit courses. To determine the impact of the policy, the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education analyzed payments, dual credit participation and postsecondary outcomes data from 2016 to 2020 and uncovered the following:
- Since the introduction of Advanced Opportunities, postsecondary credits earned by graduating public high school students increased by 51%.
- Student savings outweigh the policy’s costs to Idaho. For instance, Idaho’s 2019-20 dual credit graduates saved $20.8 million compared to a $12.8 million state investment.
- Postsecondary enrollment and retention rates were 27 percentage points and 7 percentage points higher, respectively, for dual credit participants than non-participants.
- About 63% of dual credit participants who enrolled in a postsecondary institution had first-semester GPAs above 3.0, compared to only 37% of non-participants.
Landscape of CTE Early Postsecondary Opportunities: Currently, CTE courses make up one-third of all enrollments in early postsecondary opportunities (EPSOs). Recently, Advance CTE, in partnership with the College in High School Alliance, surveyed state CTE directors to better understand how EPSOs are serving CTE learners. The following are key findings from the survey:
- While 87% of states said expanding access to EPSOs is a top or their highest priority, less than 30% find EPSOs to be “very” or “mostly” equitable. Many states indicated that the decentralized nature of EPSOs is a barrier to implementing statewide equitable supports.
- Most states collect CTE EPSO enrollment and outcomes data, but fewer than half disaggregate outcomes by learner group or special population status and only 20% make data publicly available.
- While 71% of states reported having statewide articulation agreements for CTE EPSO credits, these credits may not be accepted by individual institutions.
- Credential requirements can be a barrier for recruiting CTE EPSO teachers. About 42% of states report that CTE EPSO teachers need the same qualifications as both high school and postsecondary CTE instructors.
Similar challenges were raised in a Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) report examining dual enrollment programs across 16 southern states. Both the Advance CTE and SREB reports highlight innovative practices states are using to tackle these issues.
Recruiting Dual Credit Teachers: The College in High School Alliance has published a report about strengthening the dual credit teacher pipeline. The publication discusses the recent growth in dual enrollment programs, how instructor credential requirements limit student access and participation in dual enrollment, and strategies to address the dual credit teacher shortage.
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