CTE-focused dual enrollment: Participation and outcomes
Edmunds, J., Unlu, F., Phillips, B., Mulhern, C., & Hutchins, B. C. (2023). Education Finance and Policy, 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1162/edfp_a_00414.
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examining575,077Students, grades11-PS
Single Study Review
Review Details
Reviewed: November 2024
- Single Study Review (findings for CTE Pathway in Career and College Promise (CCP))
- Quasi-Experimental Design
- Meets WWC standards with reservations because it uses a quasi-experimental design in which the analytic intervention and comparison groups satisfy the baseline equivalence requirement.
This review may not reflect the full body of research evidence for this intervention.
Evidence Tier rating based solely on this study. This intervention may achieve a higher tier when combined with the full body of evidence.
Findings
|
Outcome measure |
Comparison | Period | Sample |
Intervention mean |
Comparison mean |
Significant? |
Improvement index |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Enrollment in North Carolina community college within one year |
CTE Pathway in Career and College Promise (CCP) vs. Business as usual |
1 Year |
Full sample;
|
39.60 |
29.30 |
Yes |
|
||
|
Enrollment in North Carolina public postsecondary school within one year |
CTE Pathway in Career and College Promise (CCP) vs. Business as usual |
1 Year |
Full sample;
|
59.00 |
49.10 |
Yes |
|
||
|
Enrollment in two-year institution within one year |
CTE Pathway in Career and College Promise (CCP) vs. Business as usual |
1 Year |
Three cohorts;
|
38.80 |
31.60 |
Yes |
|
||
|
Enrollment in any postsecondary school within one year |
CTE Pathway in Career and College Promise (CCP) vs. Business as usual |
1 Year |
Three cohorts;
|
68.00 |
64.60 |
Yes |
|
||
|
Enrollment in University of North Carolina System school within one year |
CTE Pathway in Career and College Promise (CCP) vs. Business as usual |
1 Year |
Full sample;
|
21.70 |
21.50 |
No |
-- | ||
|
Enrollment in four-year institution within one year |
CTE Pathway in Career and College Promise (CCP) vs. Business as usual |
1 Year |
Three cohorts;
|
31.60 |
35.00 |
Yes |
|
||
| Show Supplemental Findings | |||||||||
|
Enrollment in North Carolina community college within one year |
CTE Pathway in Career and College Promise (CCP) vs. Business as usual |
1 Year |
Economically disadvantaged students;
|
37.10 |
26.60 |
Yes |
|
||
|
Enrollment in North Carolina community college within one year |
CTE Pathway in Career and College Promise (CCP) vs. Business as usual |
1 Year |
Underrepresented Race/Ethnicity students;
|
35.90 |
26.20 |
Yes |
|
||
|
Enrollment in North Carolina public postsecondary school within one year |
CTE Pathway in Career and College Promise (CCP) vs. Business as usual |
1 Year |
Economically disadvantaged students;
|
50.80 |
39.70 |
Yes |
|
||
|
Enrollment in North Carolina public postsecondary school within one year |
CTE Pathway in Career and College Promise (CCP) vs. Business as usual |
1 Year |
Underrepresented Race/Ethnicity students;
|
57.00 |
46.20 |
Yes |
|
||
|
Enrollment in University of North Carolina System school within one year |
CTE Pathway in Career and College Promise (CCP) vs. Business as usual |
1 Year |
Underrepresented Race/Ethnicity students;
|
22.90 |
21.40 |
Yes |
|
||
|
Enrollment in University of North Carolina System school within one year |
CTE Pathway in Career and College Promise (CCP) vs. Business as usual |
1 Year |
Economically disadvantaged students;
|
15.10 |
14.10 |
Yes |
|
||
|
Outcome measure |
Comparison | Period | Sample |
Intervention mean |
Comparison mean |
Significant? |
Improvement index |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Total number of transferable credits earned |
CTE Pathway in Career and College Promise (CCP) vs. Business as usual |
0 Days |
Full sample;
|
4.82 |
1.49 |
Yes |
|
||
| Show Supplemental Findings | |||||||||
|
Total number of transferable credits earned |
CTE Pathway in Career and College Promise (CCP) vs. Business as usual |
0 Days |
Economically disadvantaged students;
|
N/A |
N/A |
Yes |
|
||
|
Total number of transferable credits earned |
CTE Pathway in Career and College Promise (CCP) vs. Business as usual |
0 Days |
Underrepresented Race/Ethnicity students;
|
N/A |
N/A |
Yes |
|
||
|
Outcome measure |
Comparison | Period | Sample |
Intervention mean |
Comparison mean |
Significant? |
Improvement index |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Final high school GPA, weighted |
CTE Pathway in Career and College Promise (CCP) vs. Business as usual |
0 Days |
Full sample;
|
3.25 |
3.24 |
Yes |
|
||
| Show Supplemental Findings | |||||||||
|
Final high school GPA, unweighted |
CTE Pathway in Career and College Promise (CCP) vs. Business as usual |
0 Days |
Underrepresented Race/Ethnicity students;
|
N/A |
N/A |
No |
-- | ||
|
Final high school GPA, weighted |
CTE Pathway in Career and College Promise (CCP) vs. Business as usual |
0 Days |
Underrepresented Race/Ethnicity students;
|
N/A |
N/A |
Yes |
|
||
|
Final high school GPA, weighted |
CTE Pathway in Career and College Promise (CCP) vs. Business as usual |
0 Days |
Economically disadvantaged students;
|
N/A |
N/A |
Yes |
|
||
|
Final high school GPA, unweighted |
CTE Pathway in Career and College Promise (CCP) vs. Business as usual |
0 Days |
Economically disadvantaged students ;
|
N/A |
N/A |
Yes |
|
||
|
Final high school GPA, unweighted |
CTE Pathway in Career and College Promise (CCP) vs. Business as usual |
0 Days |
Full sample;
|
2.97 |
2.97 |
No |
-- | ||
|
Outcome measure |
Comparison | Period | Sample |
Intervention mean |
Comparison mean |
Significant? |
Improvement index |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Four-year high school graduation rate |
CTE Pathway in Career and College Promise (CCP) vs. Business as usual |
0 Days |
Full sample;
|
98.20 |
96.30 |
Yes |
|
||
| Show Supplemental Findings | |||||||||
|
Four-year high school graduation rate |
CTE Pathway in Career and College Promise (CCP) vs. Business as usual |
0 Days |
Economically disadvantaged students;
|
97.20 |
94.50 |
Yes |
|
||
|
Four-year high school graduation rate |
CTE Pathway in Career and College Promise (CCP) vs. Business as usual |
0 Days |
Underrepresented Race/Ethnicity students;
|
98.10 |
96.30 |
Yes |
|
||
Evidence Tier rating based solely on this study. This intervention may achieve a higher tier when combined with the full body of evidence.
Sample Characteristics
Characteristics of study sample as reported by study author.
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Other or unknown: 100% -
Rural, Suburban, Town, Urban
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North Carolina
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Race Black 19% Other or unknown 19% White 62% -
Ethnicity Hispanic 12% Other or unknown 88% -
Eligible for Free and Reduced Price Lunch Free or reduced price lunch (FRPL) 42% Other or unknown 58%
Study Details
Setting
The evaluation took place in North Carolina with schools participating in the Career and Technical Education (CTE) Pathway in Career and College Promise under a statewide dual enrollment initiative.
Study sample
The full sample included approximately 616,000 North Carolina students, and the analysis was composed of seven cohorts of students, those who entered eleventh grade in the 2012-2013 school year through those enrolling in eleventh grade in 2018-19. Analyses in this review are restricted to the sample of students with baseline GPA and a provided economic disadvantage status. The analytic sample varied according to the outcome analyzed. Up to 575,077 students were in the analytic sample: 42% were eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, 19% were Black, 12% were Hispanic, and 62% were White.
Intervention Group
The Career and College Promise (CCP) program centers on dual enrollment, or the offering of college courses to students still in high school. The program is designed for students in grade 11-12 who seek to earn a postsecondary technical credential or college credit aligned with career clusters. Exposure to the program can vary because a student must remain eligible for participation (at least a 3.0 weighted GPA with administrator permission) throughout their experience with the pathway.
Comparison Group
Students in the comparison condition were enrolled in North Carolina schools that participated in the CTE Pathway in Career and College Promise, but these students did not participate in the program. Students in both the intervention and comparison groups may have enrolled in AP courses or university courses outside of the CCP program.
Support for implementation
The manuscript does not provide information on intervention course instructors or on any support provided for implementation of the CPP program.
An indicator of the effect of the intervention, the improvement index can be interpreted as the expected change in percentile rank for an average comparison group student if that student had received the intervention.
For more, please see the WWC Glossary entry for improvement index.
An outcome is the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that are attained as a result of an activity. An outcome measures is an instrument, device, or method that provides data on the outcome.
A finding that is included in the effectiveness rating. Excluded findings may include subgroups and subscales.
The sample on which the analysis was conducted.
The group to which the intervention group is compared, which may include a different intervention, business as usual, or no services.
The timing of the post-intervention outcome measure.
The number of students included in the analysis.
The mean score of students in the intervention group.
The mean score of students in the comparison group.
The WWC considers a finding to be statistically significant if the likelihood that the finding is due to chance alone, rather than a real difference, is less than five percent.
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Study findings for this report.
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as defined in the
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and the regulations for ED discretionary grants (EDGAR Part 77).