Report: “1 in 5 Community College Students is a High Schooler”

High School graduates with diplomas

Our CDE Ambassador, Dan Sackheim, recommended this report to all members of CCEA Plus. Presented in a newsletter from The Hechinger Report, titled “1 in 5 Community College Students is a High Schooler”, you can find the entire column here written by Jill Barshay.

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High Schoolers Embracing College-Level Classes

Below is a excerpt from the July 24th email newsletter by Jill Barshay of The Hechinger Report:

“A decade ago, in one of my first research stories for The Hechinger Report, I wrote about the sharp growth of dual enrollment classes at U.S. high schools. At the time, I questioned whether high schools were embracing college-level classes before we had clear evidence that they help more students get to and through college. Advocates were not happy with the piece. Now we have considerably more evidence and a lot more students. In many ways, research has proved the advocates right.”

Key Points

High schoolers account for nearly 1 out of every 5 community college students.
Dual enrollment far exceeds the popularity of Advanced Placement courses.

  • Dual enrollment sharply increased in 2022-23 and now accounts for almost one out of five community college students.
  • Community colleges oversee roughly 70 percent of dual enrollments with four-year colleges running the remaining 30 percent. Eighty percent of high schools are now offering these courses.
  • Course quality is uneven because of decentralized oversight among thousands of colleges around the country.
  • Research points to better outcomes for students. Students who take a dual enrollment class are more likely to graduate high school, enroll in college and earn a college degree.
  • Students of color are underrepresented in dual enrollment classes despite hopes that it would help increase college degrees among Black and Hispanic students.

Credit / The Hechinger Report

The excerpt, key points and links above appear in the July 24th email newsletter from The Hechinger Report written by Jill Barshay. Read the entire article here, subscribe to their content and support their work.

The Hechinger Report is a national nonprofit newsroom that reports on one topic: education. Sign up for their weekly newsletters to get stories like this delivered directly to your inbox.