CCHS Dual Enrollment

Dual Enrollment Program Description

The school leadership, outstanding instructional staff, hardworking support personnel, and community stakeholders at Cesar E. Chavez High, have worked diligently throughout the years to provide high-quality educational programs and practices to all its students. The model program that the Cesar E. Chavez High family dedicates its most recent success to is its Dual Enrollment Program. Cesar E. Chavez High School’s Dual Enrollment Program allows students to take a variety of college courses that earn high school and college credit simultaneously. Additionally, students attending Cesar E. Chavez High can take selected Career Technical Education courses that award college credit and lead to industry-recognized certifications or help students complete courses that are part of a certificate program at Bakersfield College or Cerro Coso College. While the Dual Enrollment Program aims at helping students earn post-secondary credit, the intent of the program is to close the achievement gap for all students by increasing student performance in all state and federal assessments, as well as make sure students are college and career ready.  

At Cesar E. Chavez High, school leadership believes that implementing a strategic and researched research-based Dual Enrollment Program will create a college and career readiness culture that delivers a high-quality education for all students that better prepares them for a seamless transition to post-secondary education, career training, or the workforce. Keeping true to the Titan way, the Dual Enrollment Program reinforces the school’s vision of “Achieving Academic Excellence - A Student at a Time,” by providing every student with an opportunity to earn college and high school credit.

In 2014, the Delano Joint Union High School District, in collaboration with Cesar E. Chavez High’s leadership team, recognized the need to better prepare its students for post-secondary education and career readiness. As a result, Cesar E. Chavez High implemented the College and Career Readiness course and utilized a standalone curriculum, “Career Choices,” that was designed to get incoming freshmen students to start planning and preparing for college and careers.

The following year, Chavez High collaborated with Bakersfield College, which was the beginning of the dual enrollment program, as Chavez High aligned the College and Career Readiness course with Bakersfield College’s Student Development course; it allowed Chavez students the opportunity to earn their first college credits on campus.  This initial dual enrollment course was the beginning of many courses Chavez High School would offer as part of the dual enrollment program to create seamless transitions for students as they graduated high school. Although these dual enrollment courses are challenging students academically, they are also saving students time and money as it reduces the number of post-secondary courses students need to complete programs and certificates as they transition. 

Implementation and Monitoring

Surveys are distributed by counselors and completed by students to see what programs of study students are interested in. Within these programs of study, students have multiple opportunities to earn college credits in CTE classes as well as core subject areas, helping students complete required college courses as well as specific CTE courses to provide seamless transitions.  All student surveys are reviewed by a counselor and discussed with the individual student to determine proper future placement. As students successfully complete the College and Career Readiness courses, they can easily transition to different courses under the Dual Enrollment Program, as they are already enrolled in the college system.

While enrolled in a dual enrollment course, student performance is carefully monitored by the student’s guidance counselor, dual enrollment teacher, learning director (assistant principal), and Career Technical Education Director. For students in jeopardy of failing a college course, interventions have been put in place for academic assistance. After-school tutorials are provided Monday through Thursday for dual enrollment students. Tutorials have proven to be vital, as not all students are readily equipped to handle the rigors of college courses. Students struggling academically in a dual enrollment class have the option, within the college drop window, to drop the class and take the equivalent high school class with less rigor and for high school credit. A final piece to the monitoring process comes from the student's parents, as they have online access to view their student’s grades through the Aeries Parent Portal.    

Results and Outcomes

At the Delano Joint Union High School District, program and school data are analyzed regularly to ensure the needs of all students, including English Learners, foster youth, and students with learning disabilities are met. Data will show that Cesar E. Chavez High’s Dual Enrollment Program has been able to meet the needs of all its students. The district’s Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP) outlines goals that ensure College and Career opportunities are in place for Cesar E. Chavez High students. The three LCAP goals for the district are:

1.    Provide a high-quality education to improve academic performance and college and career readiness as measured by state indicators for all learners, including English learners and foster youth, in all core academic content areas.

2.    Improve career readiness and maximize performance in foreign language, physical education, visual performing arts, and Career Technical Education

3.    Provide all students with a high-quality educational environment where they can take pride in their facilities and look forward to coming to school every day.

At Cesar E. Chavez High, dual enrollment data demonstrate a positive impact on students. Through a partnership with three post-secondary institutions that include Cerro Coso College, Bakersfield College, and California State University, Bakersfield, Chavez High has been able to increase dual enrollment class offerings over the last three years. The increase in dual enrollment has not only had an impact on the number of college credits students can earn during the school day, but administration has also noticed an increase in the number of concurrent classes students take during the school year.  Dual enrollment has increased the confidence of students to take other college classes outside the regular school day because the matriculation from high school to college has been completed and students are becoming more comfortable with the college-level coursework and expectations. 

The Dual Enrollment Program has also helped Chavez High increase in A-G completion rates. Since the program’s implementation, Chavez High is proud to have one of the highest completion rates in school history.  Some of the dual enrollment courses offered meeting A-G requirements include Expository Composition, Elementary Spanish, Introduction to GMAW and FCAW, History of the United States, History of the United States since 1870, Foundations in Health Science, Music Appreciation, and the programs foundational course, College and Career Readiness. 

Students are completing Career Technical Education (CTE) pathways at a higher rate than in previous years. Many of the CTE classes are articulated or dual enrolled with Bakersfield College, Cerro Coso College, or California State University, Bakersfield. 

Although some may speculate that the rigors of dual enrollment may harm graduation rates, that is not the case at Cesar E. Chavez High. Students have accepted the college and career readiness culture as graduation rates have remained very high over the last three years. Chavez High students consistently rise to the challenge, and with the support in place, are able to succeed above county and state averages.

Many students may graduate with an associate degree from one of our partnering colleges and a high school diploma. Moving forward, Cesar E. Chavez High is excited to continue its model Dual Enrollment Program so that all students have the opportunity to be prepared for post-secondary education, career training, and the workforce.