Bridging College and Careers: Using Dual Enrollment to Enhance Career and Technical Education Pathways

• In Event: Experiences of Students With Dual Enrollment, Dual Credit, or Dual Degrees

Abstract

Dual enrollment and career and technical education are two strategies with potential to improve the educational attainment and college access and success of youth struggling academically or who are within populations underrepresented in higher education. While both approaches are widely used individually, the Concurrent Courses Initiative: Pathways to College and Careers (CCI) built on the strength of both strategies by providing underrepresented and underprepared youth with rigorous, supportive and career-focused dual enrollment opportunities. Using 2008-09 and 2009-10 cohort data and controlling for student background, this paper examines the relative power of CCI in predicting high school GPA and graduation for the first two cohorts. Additionally, college enrollment and performance is examined for students who were seniors in the first cohort.

Authors

• Clive Belfield, Teachers College, Columbia University

• Olga Rodriguez, Columbia University

• Katherine L. Hughes, The College Board