Dual Enrollment in a Rural Environment: A Descriptive Quantitative Study

Dual enrollment is a federally funded program that offers high school students the opportunity to earn both high school and postsecondary credits for the same course. While the phenomenon of concurrent enrollment in postsecondary and college educational programs is not new, political support and public funding has drawn focus to the policies of dual enrollment as an initiative of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Federal Act of 2001. This descriptive, quantitative study observed courses taken by dual enrollment students from a program seated in rural western Pennsylvania near the Allegheny foothills. Course registrations for 164 students between spring 2006 through spring 2008 semesters were examined. Implementation of NCLB guidelines for course selection and examples of how such courses have been researched were discussed. Concerns about course selection observed in other states were raised.