Increasing Dual Enrollment Access and Success (IDEAS)

High-need high school students, defined as low-income and/or students of color, have historically had fewer early college credit opportunities. These opportunities help encourage students to matriculate to college and save them time and money in pursuing their degrees.

To address that need, Jobs for the Future (JFF) has invited EdSystems and the College of Lake County to participate in the Increasing Dual Enrollment Access and Success (IDEAS) project, which seeks to improve educational outcomes for high-need high school students by measurably increasing student access to and success in high-quality dual enrollment courses, through which students earn high school and college credit simultaneously. IDEAS seeks to reach that goal by designing and implementing a groundbreaking model for dual enrollment hubs that are embedded within community colleges and serve multiple high schools. These hubs will enable community colleges to serve more students and high schools by achieving operating efficiencies and economies of scale, leading to increased—and more equitable—access to dual enrollment and greater student success. 

Our Role

EdSystems will work to increase equitable access to high-need students’ participation in dual enrollment by the following:

1. Co-designing, together with the College of Lake County, a dual enrollment hub model for Illinois.
2. Providing technical assistance to support the dual credit expansions and implementation of Illinois’ first hub at the College of Lake County.
3. Increasing students’ high school academic attainment and postsecondary enrollment and completion.
4. Building the capacity of the College of Lake County and its high school partners to serve more high-need students in dual enrollment via the hub.
5. Documenting and disseminating best practices and lessons learned from the project to encourage more Illinois regions to adopt the model.