A postsecondary degree is increasingly necessary to be successful in today’s global economy. While more students are enrolling in college today than ever, a significant gap in college participation and success remains between white students and minority students (Fry, 2011). Concurrent enrollment is one strategy states across the U.S. are using to create more and better pathways from high school to higher education. Concurrent enrollment programs provide high school students the opportunity to enroll in college-level courses and earn credit at little cost to them. Concurrent enrollment has become a popular state policy over the last two decades. Questions remain, however, as to how effective concurrent enrollment programs are in improving college access and success. The need for remedial education in college continues to pose a significant barrier to persistence. Can concurrent enrollment be a strategy to reduce college remediation? Further, if concurrent enrollment programs are deemed effective, how well are the programs reaching traditionally underserved students and closing achievement gaps?

This paper presents findings from a quantitative evaluation of Colorado’s concurrent enrollment program, which has grown rapidly since the program was established by legislation in 2009. The study used student-level, longitudinal data from the Colorado Department of Education and the Colorado Department of Higher Education. The panel dataset provides for robust analysis, allowing the researcher to track cohorts of students as they move through the K-12 system and into higher education. The high school graduating cohorts of 2010, 2011 and 2012 were included in this evaluation.

The researcher used linear probability models and logistic regression to evaluate the effects of participation in concurrent enrollment on the college-going rates and remedial education rates of Colorado’s high school graduates. The study found positive, statistically significant and substantively large effects of concurrent enrollment participation on college enrollment for all high school graduates. On average, participation in dual enrollment is associated with a 22.9 percent increase in the likelihood of enrolling in college immediately after high school graduation, holding gender, income, race/ethnicity, ACT scores and school effects constant. In addition, the regression results suggest that taking concurrent enrollment courses reduces the chance of needing remedial education in the first year of college.

In the second part of this study, the researcher evaluated whether concurrent enrollment programs have potential to close achievement gaps. Interaction terms were added to the regression models allowing the effect of concurrent enrollment on college-going rates to vary by race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status. The findings suggest that Hispanic students who take concurrent enrollment courses see a greater increase in the probability of attending college than white students. Low-income students, regardless of race, also appear to benefit more from the program than high-income students.

In Colorado, Hispanic students—who constitute the state’s largest and fastest-growing minority population—significantly underperform white students on every school success measure. Thus, these are promising findings that contribute to the growing body of research on what programs can help improve postsecondary and workforce readiness for all students.