SPENCER

Dual Enrollment in Florida: Who Is Served and Who Benefits? ($156,000)

Funded by The Spencer Foundation, this 3 year research study addresses the questions: 1) Who is (and is not) served by dual enrollment programs? and 2) Are dual enrollment programs preparing students, particularly historically underrepresented students, for postsecondary success?

This study takes advantage of the extraordinary student-tracking databases maintained by the Florida Department of Education (DOE) for K-12 and college students statewide. This database includes information on every student, teacher, and school in Florida’s public schools. The Florida dataset includes a rich array of high school and postsecondary information, including transcripts of all courses taken in high school and college with GPA information; dual enrollment courses and achievement in these courses; elementary and secondary school test scores; and demographic information including age, gender, English language proficiency, free or reduced price lunch participation, special education status, and race/ethnicity. For a majority of the analyses, we will be using data for the cohort of 12th graders in 2004-05 and following them through their first year post-high school, 2005-06. For our descriptive analyses examining dual enrollment coursetaking over time, we will be using data from school year 1995-96 through 2005-06.

To understand the factors that differentiate successful from unsuccessful high schools, we will supplement administrative data with original data collected through site visits. Below is the proposed sampling strategy, which may change depending on the results from the administrative data analysis.

• We will select the 2-3 high schools that have high numbers of historically underrepresented students in dual enrollment programs.
• We will also select 2-3 high schools with particularly high academic results for their dual enrollment students, particularly among historically underrepresented students.
• Finally, we will select 2-3 high schools with very low levels of dual enrollment participation and academic success to serve as a check on any themes arising from the other site visits.

At each site, we will conduct an interview with the principal, a counselor, and at least two instructors of dual enrollment courses. We will also conduct focus groups with students who have and have not participated in dual enrollment.

Findings from this study will provide important information about one of the largest and longest standing dual enrollment programs in the country at a time when states are both committed and struggling to develop programs that improve college readiness and postsecondary attendance.