Dual or Concurrent Enrollment in Public Schools in the United States

The report, just released by IES at US Department of Education, explores the relationship between program funding and availability of dual/concurrent enrollment in public schools by both community type (city, suburb, town, rural) and the school’s percentage of FRPL students (Free or Reduced Price Lunch). The study uses data from the public school questionnaire of the 2017–18 National Teacher and Principal Survey (NTPS), a nationally representative sample survey of K-12 education.

Some key findings:

• A higher percentage of rural public schools offered dual/concurrent enrollment than other community types, but these programs were more likely to rely on funding from families/students (as opposed to the school, district, or state) than in other community types.
• Dual/concurrent enrollment participants’ in programs located in a city were most likely to have funding provided by the school, district, state or some other entity.
• High poverty schools (>75% FRPL) were less likely to offer dual/concurrent enrollment but those that did were more likely to be funded by the school, district, or state.
• Schools with 35-49% of students qualifying for FRPL were significantly more likely to offer dual/concurrent enrollment than other FRPL percentage categories but appear to rely on a mix of funding sources. (The report acknowledges, and the data show, that dual/concurrent enrollment programs may have multiple funding sources.)