Dual-Credit Access, Participation and Outcomes in Washington State

Abstract

Dual-credit has become a prominent topic in education as states look for additional opportunities to prepare students to succeed in college. Research has shown that students who earn college credit in high school are more likely to enroll in college. In Washington, there is currently a policy in place to increase enrollment in dual-credit courses. In addition, the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) has given states more flexibility in how they are held accountable and Washington is one of the states that adopted dual-credit participation as an accountability measure. This study is informed by the results of a previous pilot study and includes all six dual-credit programs offered in Washington state. The six programs are AP, Cambridge, College in the High School, IB, Running Start and Tech Prep. Both descriptive and predictive approaches are taken to answer the questions 1) who has access and participates in different dual-credit programs, and 2) does dual-credit participation predict high school graduation and college enrollment after controlling for demographics and GPA? The results of this study provide a more nuanced picture of dual-credit access in Washington when only basic statistics at the state level have been produced thus far. Tech Prep has the highest participation rate, and Cambridge the lowest. Students from outside the greater Puget Sound area have access to fewer dual-credit options and have lower participation rates. Students from smaller districts are also less likely to participate in dual-credit but have higher participation in Running Start compared to larger districts. Results from the predictive Hierarchical Linear Models show that AP, Running Start and College in the High School are all significant predictors of any college enrollment. Running Start participation is associated with an increased probability of any college enrollment for underrepresented minority students and College in the High School participation is associated with an increased probability of any college enrollment for students who are English language learners. Implications for policy and future research are discussed. Keywords: Dual-credit, access, participation, graduation, college enrollment