In October, the Dual Enrollment Research Collaborative, an initiative spearheaded by the Joyce Foundation and the Collaborative for Higher Education Research and Policy at the University of Utah, released a report on ten urgent research questions related to advancing equitable dual enrollment policy and practice for high school students in the U.S. The report provides a “a comprehensive overview of what dual enrollment research currently tells us about this growing strategy for improving college access and success.”
Dual enrollment programs, which allow high school students to enroll in and earn college credit while still in high school, represent a promising strategy for reducing inequality in outcomes including higher education persistence and achievement. To support studies that pursue new research on these programs, the Collaborative also announced the Dual Enrollment Research Fund—a grant opportunity that aims to advance evidence and understanding on ways that dual enrollment can “support student access in college and career.”
We encourage you to review the research agenda and the RFP, which has a deadline of December 8, 2023.
In addition, our Foundation remains interested in supporting high-quality research on programs, policies, and practices to reduce inequality in higher education outcomes, among other domains, and on a range of dimensions. To the extent that dual enrollment programs may provide unique opportunities for underserved youth, they may help reduce educational inequality. In this case, we could consider funding research on dual enrollment programs through our program of research grants on reducing inequality.
As noted by the Dual Enrollment Research Collaborative, new studies on equitable dual enrollment policy and practice can answer important questions to improve outcomes for young people, and we echo their call for scholars in the field to pursue the important agenda they’ve put forward.
