Pre-Conference Events
National Conference
Participants have the opportunity to tailor their conference experience by engaging in a variety of pre-conference workshops and events. These sessions are designed to offer in-depth learning opportunities, hands-on experiences, and networking opportunities for educators, administrators, and stakeholders in the concurrent enrollment community.
All pre-conference workshops will be on Sunday, October 26.
Pre-conference workshops are not part of the Virtual Conference.
Cost:
Full-Day Workshops- $289
Half-Day Workshops- $174
As indicated below, full day workshops include lunch, half-day workshops do not include lunch. If you are attending both a morning and afternoon half-day session, there will be a 1 hour break for lunch on your own.
Full Day Pre-Conference Workshops
Cost: $289 | Lunch Included
9:00 am – 4:00 pm | Lunch Included
Audience: Professional academic advisors and CE practitioners who have advising responsibilities within concurrent enrollment populations. All levels of advising experience are welcome.
Session Description:
Just like the movies, finding success in college takes a support crew, clear direction, and effective stage management. Writing a quality script for your advising practice will help students define their academic goals, develop a tailored pathway, and take the lead in their own story.
This full-day workshop will help dual enrollment academic advisors develop professional practice and coaching strategies that are focused on student self-efficacy. Participants should come prepared to learn, teach, collaborate, and laugh with colleagues who share common concerns, challenges, and successes. Join us and be ready to develop a script for advising that will keep your students on center stage.
9:00 am - 4:00 pm | Lunch Included
Audience: Staff new to the field or new to their position
Session Description:
This pre-conference workshop is ideal for those new to the field of dual and concurrent enrollment or those who have been working in the field for fewer than two years. Attendees will be provided with an overview of the field and will spend time learning about the building blocks needed to stand up and sustain a quality program. Multiple program models will be discussed; however, this workshop will focus primarily on concurrent enrollment programs, the most complex and complicated program type to build and manage. While valuable for both secondary and post-secondary attendees, this workshop is specifically designed to offer practical, just-in-time training for new program staff at post-secondary institutions.
9:00 am - 4:00 pm | Lunch Included
Audience: We welcome all program partners, including college & university administrators, deans, program directors/staff, faculty liaisons, and secondary partners such as superintendents, principals, high school teachers, and school counselors.
Session Description:
Join NACEP in Los Angeles,CA for our one-day Accreditation Institute focused exclusively on NACEP’s National Standards for Quality for our Concurrent Enrollment Program (CEP) and College-Provided Faculty Model (CPF) endorsements. This institute is tailored more for established programs seeking re-accreditation (in the upcoming 2027-2028 & 2028-2029 cycles), but welcomes those seeking to learn more. It's imperative for teams from your institution/program to participate, ideally with a minimum of two members.
What to expect? The institute will leverage a number of NACEP’s guides and resources, and review the required materials essential for the accreditation application process, preparation, and submission. Since the information is condensed to one-day, there will be very limited time for working sessions and networking at the institute.
How to prepare? For further details about the accreditation application process and required materials, please refer to the Application Process & Resources and Accreditation Institute webpages.
Don't miss this opportunity to equip your program with the knowledge and tools necessary for accreditation success. We look forward to seeing you in sunny Los Angeles!
Half-Day Pre-Conference Workshops
Cost: $174 | Lunch Not Included
8:00 am - 12:00 pm | Lunch Not Included
Audience: This workshop will be most relevant to day-to-day practitioners interested in policy.
Session Description:
NACEP's annual pre-conference State Policy Workshop brings together leaders from across the country to discuss current national and state policy trends and advocacy efforts. This year's workshop will continue to focus on current policy updates and new concurrent and dual enrollment resources with an additional focus on interpreting and implementing policy. The workshop's goal is to equip practitioners to have a seat at the state and federal policy table to ensure they have a role in shaping the policies they will ultimately be responsible for implementing. With this goal in mind, the workshop will provide tools and strategies for better understanding and tracking policy, turning policy into practice, and advocating for policy and practice that support the field of concurrent enrollment, dual enrollment, and early college. Given the content of the workshop, it is likely most relevant to day-to-day practitioners interested in policy.
9:00 am - 12:00 pm | Lunch Not Included
Audience: This workshop discusses the more advanced elements of program analysis. It is good for researchers and/or program staff with a year or more experience with program management within an established dual or concurrent enrollment program.
Session Description:
Concurrent enrollment programs benefit from conducting regular high-quality program evaluations to inform program improvement. Because of the added scrutiny that concurrent enrollment faces, programs can display greater accountability through evaluation and by sharing results with stakeholders. This workshop is intended for institutional researchers and concurrent enrollment managers with or without evaluation and research experience to share different methods and approaches to evaluate program effectiveness and student success. The workshop will include examples of research and evaluation approaches that institutions have used to drive program improvement and align with NACEP accreditation standards. Register early as space is limited to foster effective engagement and collaboration.
- Designed for dual and concurrent enrollment program staff and institutional researchers alike, this workshop shares methods and tools to evaluate program effectiveness and student success.
- Led by members of the NACEP Accreditation and Research Commissions, attendees will learn about methods and tools to evaluate program effectiveness.
- The workshop includes examples that align with NACEP accreditation standards and provides an opportunity to plan for continuous program improvement for all programs.
9:00 am - 12:00 pm | Lunch Not Included
Presenting Trainer: Kimberly Ellis, Certified QPR Trainer | KEllis@tcsg.edu, Special Populations/Career Services/Equity Coordinator, Office of Technical Education, Technical College System of Georgia
Audience: Counselors, dual enrollment coordinators and instructors/teachers
Session Description:
Providing options for students with disabilities to participate in dual enrollment is a wonderful educational opportunity, and an important step to increasing equitable program participation, so how do we help prepare our students to navigate the process successfully? Reasonable accommodations may vary, while FERPA guidelines and a lack of information about the differences between high school and college can be a stumbling block for both students and parents. This discussion provides important strategies for fostering positive relationships, understanding the stereotypes applied students with disabilities, increase student advocacy, parent information, and ways to promote dual enrollment for students with disabilities. Attend this session to participate in open and honest discussions, explore real life scenarios, learn about promising practices, and elevate changes in our mindset to help promote equal access and opportunities for students with disabilities.
1:00 pm - 4:00 pm | Lunch Not Included
Presenting Trainer: Kimberly Ellis, Certified QPR Trainer | KEllis@tcsg.edu, Special Populations/Career Services/Equity Coordinator, Office of Technical Education, Technical College System of Georgia
Audience: K–12 educators (teachers, counselors, administrators), college/university faculty and staff (especially advisors, residence life staff, student services), school counselors and psychologists, student support professionals (academic advisors, career counselors)
Session Description:
Student and staff mental health remains a top priority for colleges and high schools across the nation. This workshop offers important training in suicide prevention as well as practical solutions for education professionals to help prioritize self-care and manage stress.
Suicide attempts among America’s youth have soared during the pandemic. Get the tools you need to help address this growing crisis. Many people are afraid to talk about suicide or feel they need to be a counselor in order to do so, but anyone can save a life! This empowering course focuses on prevention and gives you the skills to be able to ask vital questions and save a life. QPR stands for Question, Persuade, and Refer — the 3 simple steps anyone can learn to help someone in crisis. Just as people trained in CPR and the Heimlich Maneuver help save thousands of lives each year, people trained in QPR learn how to recognize the warning signs of a suicide crisis and how to question, persuade, and refer someone to help. Attendees who complete the workshop receive QPR Gatekeeper Certification.
As an added bonus, this session will also offer ways to practice self-care and stress management on a daily basis. Our world has drastically changed, presenting a variety of new stressors and challenges. In this “new normal” the way we work, serve students, and even basic daily activities can heighten anxiety and stress. This fun and engaging session that will help you look at your daily routine and stress in a different way while exploring quick and easy tactics that you can use every day to combat stress at home and work.
1:00 pm - 4:00 pm | Lunch Not Included
Presenting Organization: Community College Research Center (CCRC), Teachers College - Columbia University
Audience: Attendees from both K12 and postsecondary institutions are encouraged to participate either as a partnership or individually.
Session Description:
In this workshop, CCRC will share models of effective practice and its research-based dual enrollment survey from research on colleges and K-12 schools that are rethinking dual enrollment as an on-ramp to college and career pathways after high school for students from underserved groups. In this emerging approach to DE, which we call “dual enrollment equity pathways” or DEEP, colleges and their K-12 partners broaden the benefits of DE through:
- DEEP Outreach: Reaching out to underserved students and families to encourage and support them to participate in DE,
- DEEP Alignment: Aligning DE course offerings to bachelor’s and career-technical associate degree and apprenticeship programs in high-opportunity fields,
- DEEP Advising: Helping every DE student with career and academic exploration, advising, and planning, and
- DEEP Support: Delivering high-quality instruction with proactive supports to build DE students’ confidence as college learners.
As pre-work, participants will be invited to complete CCRC’s “Dual Enrollment Student Success Practice Survey.” This research-based tool will help colleges bench their current DE practices against the DEEP model. Using their survey results from their surveys, participants will identify strengths of their current practices and areas for improvement and investment in their DE programs. Participants will learn how college-K-12 DE partnerships in diverse local contexts have implemented DEEP practices, as well as the leadership strategies they are using to scale and sustain DEEP.
By the end of the workshop, participants will be ready to communicate the purpose and direction of their work to strengthen DE. Participants will be equipped with the tools to engage their respective school, district, and college partners in co-designing and implementing reforms aimed at advancing college and career success for their students and supplying talent to support economic vitality in their communities.
1:00 pm - 4:00 pm | Lunch Not Included
Presenting Organization: Motivate Lab - University of Virginia
Audience: Instructors, faculty, staff, administrators from K12 and postsecondary institutions, and anyone genuinely curious about the impact of educator mindsets on student success.
Session Description:
Set the stage for student success with mindset-supportive strategies!
In this session, participants will explore how educator mindsets—specifically Growth Mindset, Purpose and Relevance, and Sense of Belonging—can be powerful tools for improving student success in concurrent enrollment programs. Instructors, staff, and administrators across a variety of disciplines and educational settings will learn how small shifts in communication, active learning routines, and engagement strategies can build student confidence, increase persistence, and better prepare learners for the rigor of college-level coursework.
This interactive session offers practical strategies to help concurrent enrollment instructors and administrators support student achievement and well-being by making small changes that facilitate large gains. Participants will apply example strategies to their interactions with students in their local educational contexts.
As a result of participating in this pre-conference sessions, participants will:
Identify and describe motivational and learning mindset theories and concepts
Describe the link between learning mindsets and student success
Expand their pedagogical toolbox to include practices that create supportive learning environments
This pre-conference session is led by Dr. Chris Hulleman, professor of education and public policy at the University of Virginia and Founder and Director of Motivate Lab. The Motivate Lab is driven to improve people’s lives through rigorous motivation research and to understand the mindsets that promote learning, growth, and well-being.
