Students earning college credit while meeting the requirements of Washington's high school diploma are basic education students. Yet every year in Washington, students and their families pay out-of-pocket for the fees, books, and supplies that are required for participation in dual credit programs. This creates inequity by only allowing students…

Successful dual enrollment programs begin with strong, collaborative partnerships between community colleges and their local K-12 school systems. They also require clearly articulated agreements that spell out what each entity's responsibilities. For example: Who's going to teach the courses? Will the instruction take place at the high school or…

This topic paper details how dual and concurrent enrollment programs can help states overcome workforce readiness and postsecondary access and completion challenges and how governors can strengthen these programs by using their bully pulpit, agenda setting authority and budgetary authority to do so. It concludes with a number of examples of how…

Through Engrossed Second Substitute House Bill 1599 (E2SHB 1599) the Legislature tasked the State Board of Education (SBE) with providing an analysis of the equity and adequacy of the new graduation pathway options through stakeholder outreach and engagement. SBE has solicited and received feedback on the graduation pathway options. In the…

This study reports on the implementation of Gateway to College, a program whose mission is to serve students who have dropped out of high school, or who are at risk of dropping out of high school, by allowing them to earn a high school diploma and credits toward a postsecondary degree. Gateway to College is uniquely ambitious in providing…

In 2015, legislation to improve access to dual-credit programs and to reduce disparities in access and completion--particularly for low income and underrepresented students--was enacted. The new law focused on expanding access to College in the High School but acknowledged issues in other dual-credit programs and reinforced the notion that cost…

Washington Student Achievement Council's 10-Year Roadmap sets a goal for 2023 of having 70 percent of Washington adults (ages 25-44) receive a postsecondary credential. At the same time, dramatic cuts in state funding for higher education, particularly since 2008, have shifted more of the cost of higher education onto students and families, making…

Since 1990, high school students in Washington have had the choice of earning college credit through the Running Start program. Running start is a dual enrollment and dual credit program that allows eleventh and twelfth grade high school students to take college courses at any of Washington's 34 community and technical colleges, Central Washington…

The Washington Legislature directed the State Board of Education (SBE) to provide an analysis of the equity and adequacy of new graduation pathway options through stakeholder outreach and engagement. This report contains the "Second Interim Graduation Pathway Options Report--July 2020" and the "Washington Graduation Pathway Options:…

We study a popular dual enrollment program in Washington State, "Running Start" using a new administrative database that links high school and postsecondary data. Conditional on prior high school performance, we find that students participating in Running Start are more likely to attend any college but less likely to attend four-year…

We study a popular dual enrollment program in Washington State using a new administrative database linking high school and postsecondary enrollments. Conditional on prior high school performance and basic demographic and economic covariates, dual enrollment students are more likely to attend any college, but they are no more likely to attend…

This Academic Year Report 2009-10 provides a snapshot of funding, facilities, staffing, and enrollments in community and technical colleges in the past academic year. The report also describes key measures of student outcomes and addresses the most frequently asked questions related to expenditures, personnel and students. Additional demographic…

The purpose of this study was to explore the reasons 162 rural area high school students participate in the dual enrollment program. Dual enrollment programs allow high school students to enroll in college courses for credit prior to high school graduation with local school districts covering the cost of tuition. Participants in this study were…

The Running Start (RS) Program was piloted at 5 community colleges and 36 high schools in Washington state during the 1990-91 school year. RS allows high school juniors and seniors to enroll in a community college for high school and college credit. A total of 358 students participated in the pilot program in 1990-91 and will participate again in…

The Running Start program was created by the Washington State Legislature in 1990 to allow qualified 11th and 12th grade high school students to take college-level courses at community and technical colleges. In the 1994-95 academic year, 7,418 high school students were enrolled in college classes through the program, representing about 3% of the…