This week: equitable dual enrollment, making every credit count, turning pathways into postsecondary success—and more.
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A Career Choices Series Newsletter
September 15, 2026 ~ Issue 26.4
FROM MINDY'S DESK
What Makes a Dual Enrollment Program Really Work?
I've been involved with dual enrollment since 2009, when Career Choices and Changes became the foundational curriculum for what grew into the Get Focused...Stay Focused!® program.
Over those years, our data has taught us an important lesson: Offering a college course on a high school campus is just the beginning of a successful dual enrollment program—not the end.
One exemplary implementation was led by Kylie Campbell, then Director of Outreach Services and Early College for Kern Community College District. The lessons learned from that experience—involving more than 68,000 students over seven years—provided valuable insights into what it takes to build a dual enrollment program that can both succeed and scale.
Those lessons became the basis for a short video:
10 Ingredients for Success from a Proven Dual Enrollment Program
The 10 ingredients aren't theoretical. They’re lessons learned from real-world experience.
As dual enrollment continues to expand, colleges and high schools face an important question: How do we go beyond simply enrolling more students to building equitable programs that give every student a meaningful path toward postsecondary success?
That's what this video is about.
FUTURE FOCUSED
Make Early College Credit Count
As dual enrollment continues to grow, more students are leaving high school with college credits already on their transcripts. While this is exciting progress, those credits are only one factor in the postsecondary success equation.
The bigger question is: Where are those credits taking students?
When students have a clear vision for their future, dual enrollment can become much more than a head start on higher education. Students can choose courses strategically, connect them to a career or program of study, and begin making meaningful progress toward a credential, a degree, or pathway completion while still in high school.
For administrators, this creates an important planning question: Are we simply giving students access to college courses, or are we helping them choose courses that further their postsecondary plans?
The future of dual enrollment isn’t just about accumulating more credits; it’s about helping students make those credits count.
Looking for strategies to connect dual enrollment, career exploration, and students’ postsecondary plans? Reach out to Dr. Monica Carmo, Vice President of Educational Partnerships.
IN PRACTICE
Getting Students into a Pathway is Only the Beginning
Getting students to enroll in a pathway is one thing. Getting them to complete it is another.
At Wheatland Union High School, career planning starts before students choose a pathway. Through their Freshman Pirate Focus course, part of Wheatland’s Get Focused…Stay Focused! implementation, students explore their interests, skills, values, and career goals, and build a personalized 10-Year Plan for their future.
That foundation helps students make more intentional choices about what comes next—including which career pathway is the best fit for them.
Those pathways can take students much further than high school. Through Wheatland’s partnership with Yuba College, students have opportunities to earn dual enrollment or articulated college credits as they progress through their pathway courses. This creates an important connection: career exploration gives students a reason to choose a pathway, while dual enrollment gives them another reason to complete it.
Instead of simply accumulating college credits, students can earn credits that move them forward along a pathway they have deliberately chosen—building skills, gaining momentum, and making progress toward the future they’ve mapped out for themselves.
In the video below, see how Wheatland Union High School has built career planning into its pathway strategy, and why pathway completion is a metric worth watching.
ON THE ROAD
Coming Your Way!
We’re planning on making appearances at several upcoming events, and we hope to see you there, too. If you’ll be attending, stop by, say hello, and tell us what you’re working on. We always enjoy learning more about how we can support you and your students.
Jump$tart National Educators Conference
Denver, CO • Nov. 6–8
CTE Conference
Rancho Mirage, CA • Nov. 18–20
ACTE CareerTech Vision 2026
New Orleans, LA • Dec. 2–5
THIS WEEK'S TAKEAWAY
First, help students envision where they want to go.
Then, make sure every opportunity—every course, every credit, every pathway—helps them get there.
