A new study of dual-enrollment programs finds that high-achieving white girls from financially secure homes are more likely to enroll in those college-credit programs than minority, male, or low-income students.
The study focused on community college dual-enrollment programs in Oregon, which has a particularly large share of its students—29 percent in the graduating class of 2013—participating in programs that enable high school students to earn simultaneous high school and college credit.
The study, by the Regional Educational Laboratory at Education Northwest for the federal Institute of Education Sciences, examined dual-enrollment participation between 2005-06 and 2012-13. Its findings prompted the study’s authors to urge greater attention to diversifying the programs.
