The Effects of Dual Enrollment Programs on Student Level Outcomes at a Rural Community College: a Quantitative Research Study

Higher
education
opportunities
are
prevalent
in
many
different
forms
throughout
the
state
of
Michigan.
These
opportunities
include
advanced
placement,
early
college,
middle
college,
technical
programming,
and
traditional
dual
enrollment.
These
programs
are
sometimes
referred
to
as
bridge/transition,
credit-­‐based
transition,
or
dual
enrollment/dual
credit.
As
many
community
colleges
have
begun
to
collaborate
with
K-­‐12
schools
in
recent
years,
these
opportunities
tend
to
be
an
increasingly
common
way
of
preparing
high
school
students
for
postsecondary
education.
In
this
study,
the
researcher
used
a
quasi-­‐experimental
research
design
to
determine
the
effects
of
different
types
of
dual
enrollment
on
student-­‐level
outcomes
at
a
small
rural
community
college
in
Michigan.
Using
an
overall
population
sample
size
of
2,639
students
who
enrolled
during
the
fall
2010
and
winter
2011
semesters,
it
was
discovered
that
dual
enrolled
students
did
not
persist
or
complete
at
rates
that
were
considered
statistically
significant.
The
research
did,
however,
support
previous
studies
demonstrating
that
high
school
GPA
and
ACT
reading
scores
are
significant
variables
associated
with
college
completion,
and
the
research
reaffirmed
the
idea
that
dual
enrollment
is
associated
with
increased
college
GPAs.
Further
research
that
focuses
on
predetermined
factors
associated
with
dual
enrollment
will
be
important,
as
well
as
determining
the
most
efficient
instructional
methods
that
impact
dual
enrollment
completion.