DEEP Dive: Redesigning Dual Enrollment for Purposeful College and Career Pathways
October 18, 2026, 1:00—4:00 p.m. | Huntington Convention Center, RM 25A
In this workshop, CCRC will share models of effective practice from research on colleges and K-12 schools that are implementing dual enrollment as an on-ramp to college and career pathways after high school for students from underserved groups. In this approach to DE, which we call “dual enrollment equity pathways” or DEEP, colleges and their K-12 partners broaden the benefits of DE through:
- DEEP Outreach: Reaching out to underserved students and families to encourage and support them to participate in DE,
- DEEP Alignment: Aligning DE course offerings to bachelor’s and career-technical associate degree and apprenticeship programs in high-opportunity fields,
- DEEP Advising: Helping every DE student with career and academic exploration, advising, and planning, and
- DEEP Support: Delivering high-quality instruction with proactive supports to build DE students’ confidence as college learners.
Presenters
John Fink, Senior Research Associate and Program Lead, CCRC
Davis Jenkins, Senior Research Scholar, CCRC
Sarah Griffin, Research Associate, CCRC
Aurely Garcia Tulloch, Research Analyst, CCRC
Nikki Gullion, Dean of Curriculum & Concurrent Enrollment, Eastern Iowa Community Colleges
Career-Connected Dual Enrollment: Expanding On-Ramps to College and Career Opportunity
October 19, 2026, 10:45—11:30 a.m. | Huntington Convention Center, RM 25C
This session will present four scalable models for career-connected dual enrollment identified through CCRC’s national study and highlight the practices that make these partnerships successful, drawing on CCRC’s research-based Dual Enrollment Equity Pathways (DEEP) framework. Leaders from Oakland Unified School District and Eastern Iowa Community Colleges will join CCRC researchers to describe how they have adopted a career-connected dual enrollment strategy in their programming and share practical lessons and recommendations. Participants will leave with practical strategies for using existing high school career pathways to expand equitable, career-connected dual enrollment without creating entirely new programs or organizational structures.
Presenters
Sarah Griffin, Research Associate, CCRC
John Fink, Senior Research Associate and Program Lead, CCRC
Davis Jenkins, Senior Research Scholar, CCRC
Nikki Gullion, Dean of Curriculum & Concurrent Enrollment, Eastern Iowa Community Colleges
Leslie Hsu Freeman, Manager of Dual Enrollment, Oakland Unified School District
How Much Is Enough? New Data on Dual Enrollment Dosage
October 20, 2026, 10:45—11:30 a.m.
As dual enrollment has grown across the country so too have studies documenting the benefits of participation on college access, attainment, and other student outcomes. The research on the benefits of dual enrollment has largely measured participation as a “yes” or “no” instead of taking into account the number and type of dual enrollment courses taken. In this session, researchers will share findings from three recent studies examining the amount and types of courses taken through dual enrollment and how this relates to students’ subsequent postsecondary outcomes across five different state contexts. Moderated by NACEP’s Research Commission chair, attendees will walk away with the latest and greatest research on dual enrollment dosage and its implications for program design and implementation.
Presenters
Tatiana Velasco, Senior Research Associate, CCRC
Rashi Agarwal, Graduate Student Researcher, The University of Texas at Austin
Vivian Liu, Associate Director, Office of Applied Research, Evaluation & Data Analytics, City University of New York
Dual Enrollment Course Transfer and Applicability: Evidence from Three States
October 20, 2026, 3:15—4:00 p.m. | Huntington Convention Center, RM 25A
Students who engage in dual enrollment (DE) are more likely to enroll and persist in college after high school, and graduate with baccalaureate degrees at higher rates with less time to degree. Yet DE students often select courses based on availability, suggestive of “random acts of dual credit” rather than intentional selection of courses to meet educational goals. This haphazard selection of dual enrollment coursework may lead to wasted credits, with students accruing excessive college-level courses that do not transfer or apply toward their subsequent bachelor’s degree program. In this session, presenters will share and discuss the results of four related studies that explore DE course transfer from the lens of excess credit, credit loss, and credit transfer and applicability to baccalaureate degrees.
Presenters
John Fink, Senior Research Associate and Program Lead, CCRC
Julie Edmunds, Director, Early College Research Center, University of North Carolina at Greensboro
Wonsun Ryu, Research Associate, UT Austin
Jason Taylor, Associate Professor, Educational Leadership and Policy, University of Utah