Each year more than a million high school students nationally take college dual enrollment (DE) courses, which have been shown to increase college access and success among participants. Yet racial and other equity gaps in DE participation are widespread. In an effort to broaden the benefits of DE, the state of Ohio passed legislation allowing waivers to test-based eligibility requirements—a frequently identified barrier to equitable access—for specific school-college partnerships providing expanded outreach and support for students underrepresented in the state’s DE program. This mixed methods study evaluates how these partnerships were implemented to intentionally address the needs of underrepresented students, as whether these partnerships were successful in broadening access to DE and success in DE, as measured by DE course pass rates and college matriculation after high school.
