Access, Supports, and Performance in Dual Enrollment: A COVID-19 Case’s Implications for Equity

Dual enrollment (DE) courses are a prominent strategy for promoting college access and success, but racial/ethnic and socioeconomic inequalities in participation remain stark. DE programs that broaden access may need to deploy strategies that provide targeted support and interventions to specific populations of students. However, whether DE programmatic elements are conducive to equity is unknown. In this study, we analyzed trends in student performance before COVID-19 and in COVID-19-impacted years in a hybrid DE program that made programmatic changes during the pandemic. We found that student performance in these DE courses improved during the pandemic, suggesting that modifications the program made may have benefited student performance overall, but racial/ethnic and socioeconomic inequalities also widened during this time. These results suggest the need for future research and reform on equitable interventions and support in broad-access DE courses.