What are the demographic data of the high school students who participate in the dual registration through the institutions of SHKLSH. One of the fastest growing populations with SCTCS institutions is the dual enrollment program, where students can take college courses while still enrolled in high school. Their role is critical in maintaining accountability and continuity with the statewide dual enrollment program.
FRAMING THE STUDY
There is research showing that dual enrollment programs can provide a bridge for students to college (Pierce, 2017) and can be a tool for families with no college experience to guide their children on their own (Roughton, 2016). ). There is evidence that participating high school students already perceive themselves as college bound and dual enrollment is a natural progression (Kanny, 2015). Other studies have shown that students are seeing the use of Dual Enrollment as a way to gain exposure to college expectations (Kanny, 2015).
For dual enrollment students, this structure is created by high school and college staff who work with the student and family. For dual enrollment students in particular, this awareness of and access to the faculty is critical to their ability to participate. Some high schools offer dual-enrollment courses on campus as part of the school day and can contribute to the idea of college.
Understanding the college's role in how it engages with and is accessible to high school students is an important aspect of participating in the Dual Enrollment program. For Dual Enrollment students, it includes the state funding that may be available to them and may drive attendance.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
Reviewing these dynamics within the context of the SCTCS Dual Enrollment initiatives will support their focus on how to expand participation. In the second phase of the study, I interviewed SCTCS college staff from several different institutions that work with Dual Enrollment. The interviews focused on the staff member's experiences of working with Dual Enrollment students, specifically student interest, persistence in the program, and any challenges they see students encounter that create barriers to success.
The interviews were semi-structured and focused on SCTCS college staff's perceptions of the motivations that students (and other stakeholders) have for participating in the Dual Enrollment program, what outreach efforts are used to connect with students, and what barriers they perceive , discourages students. from participating and persevering in the programs. Having institutional data allowed me to develop an understanding of Dual Enrollment students' demographics, their academic success, and their persistence in attendance. The next phase was to interview SCTCS college staff who work with Dual Enrollment students to gauge their perceptions of student participation and persistence.
This virtual meeting was attended by staff from SCTCS institutions that work with dual enrollment students. This first layer focused on an internal review of the student's demographic background, where institutional data was used to create a student profile of those participating in dual enrollment.
DATA ANALYSIS
Immediately following an interview, I would review the recording to transcribe the responses and save it for analysis after everything was completed. After the initial review of the transcripts, additional measures aimed to determine possible codes and categories. As the analysis progressed, three main themes emerged that were common across all interviews, with overlapping subthemes and key words emerging (see Figure 5).
There's just a general lack of awareness about the grants ... nobody's even used the [new CTE]. Students do well when the school and the parents both set an example that Dual Enrollment is expected”. The findings incorporate these themes, with the quantitative analysis of the institutional data and the ACS data for household income and educational attainment, to provide a better understanding of the Dual Enrollment student who enrolls at SCTCS institutions.
FINDINGS
In the state, the median household income is $53,000, however, students living in households above the median income far outnumber those below it. Both of these indicators run counter to much of the research surrounding dual enrollment and those advocating its expansion, where participation has resulted in positive outcomes for historically disadvantaged students, including those from racial minorities and lower socioeconomic status. (Nelson & Waltz, 2019). Similarly, interviewees identified underachievers as most often lacking high school and parental support, and generally unprepared for the rigors of taking college classes during high school.
Students without the help of a high school counselor or a college-savvy parent are likely unaware of the dual enrollment option or unprepared for the rigors of the program. As both Figure 9 and Figure 10 indicate, there is unequal representation in the course attempts of students of color and students with household incomes above the median. Over a five-year period, black students averaged 1.9 course attempts per semester—fewer than the two classes funded through dual enrollment.
Similarly, students in the lowest quartile of household income had the fewest average course attempts at an average of 1.6 course attempts per semester, regardless of race. When addressing the financial challenges that students may experience, despite the availability of grant funding for tuition costs, funding remains an issue for students to participate.
RECOMMENDATIONS
A partnership of 26 school districts and SCTCS institutions with the highest participation of dual enrollment students strives to collaborate on recruitment and retention. In dual enrollment, this can be directly linked to the support and intervention of the secondary school. From the dual enrollment student's perspective, this marketing can take the form of recruitment and outreach, as well as the role of a high school counselor or school representative in the process of promoting opportunities for students.
Colleges and school systems can collaborate on information sessions that present the Dual Enrollment benefits to the parents as stakeholders, citing reduced college costs and other tangible benefits. Dual Enrollment participation is also driven by an expectation from the high schools, families, peers, as much as it is driven by the student themselves. When a student presents as being behind, the college faculty reports the performance to the Dual Enrollment Coordinator at the college, who then reports the problem to the high school counselor.
Nationwide, 13 states have funding designs that include school district financial responsibilities to support dual enrollment students (Zinth, 2019). Incorporating this design could expand Dual Enrollment opportunities to those who need these opportunities the most.
LIMITATIONS
Having that interaction between the student and various stakeholders invested in their outcomes can contribute to positive academic benefits (Pierce, 2017). An expansion of the current state funding model to include textbook sharing could help alleviate some of the additional financial burden on the student. Another financial intervention can be through Inter-institutional Agreements between the KSHBMS institution and the local school system that compensates the costs for students.
Finally, expanding options for concurrent enrollment or classes taught on the high school campus as part of the school day may increase participation. Having the course on the high school campus can mitigate barriers caused by transportation or student responsibilities outside of school. A future study will incorporate data directly from students who experienced a barrier firsthand that prevented them from being successful in a Dual Enrollment program.
Although interviews were conducted with a sample of participants who work with dual enrollment students, those who volunteered did not necessarily represent a cross-section of SCTCS institutions. In interpreting the data, clear themes emerged among staff and their perceptions of students' experiences with dual enrollment. However, a future study may benefit from ensuring interview participants from urban, suburban, and rural settings, as well as equal community participation, and technical college staff, to ensure that each area was represented.
CONCLUSION
The students' experiences based on the region they live in or the type of institution they attend can influence student motivation. In the absence of this student-level data, I used the 2019 American Community Survey (ACS) and accessed tables of income and educational attainment for ZIP Code Table Areas (ZCTA). These methods are commonly used when making assumptions about population areas, but the study may have been stronger if student-level data related to family background were available.
Retrieved from ERIC Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.proxy.library.vanderbilt.edu/docview accountid=14816 Maxwell, J.
APPENDICES
You have been invited to participate because of your role at TBR institutions and your involvement and experience with the Dual Enrollment Program. This Capstone is focused on better understanding the motivations of students participating in the Dual Enrollment Program at TBR institutions. If we can better understand the student's motivation, we may also discover the obstacles they face that may prevent them from enrolling, persisting, or otherwise being successful in the program.
The only individuals who will have access to these recordings will be myself and my faculty advisors at Vanderbilt University, and all recordings will be destroyed upon completion of the study. We also invite you to share additional insights related to your experiences working with the Dual Enrollment Program that are not specifically asked in my questions. Please share your professional perspective and experience working with high school students interested in dual enrollment programs.
For example, can you describe the influence of self-efficacy, parents, friends, high school counselor, and/or college staff.
