Increasing Dual Enrollment Access and Success (IDEAS)

Dual enrollment, where high school students take college-level courses, has proven to increase academic achievement, persistence, and credential completion. Yet too often, programs are siloed and fragmented, rather than connected and scalable.

Increasing Dual Enrollment Access and Success (IDEAS) is a national initiative led by Jobs for the Future (JFF) and funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s Education Innovation & Research program designed to expand access to high-quality dual enrollment via the creation of state-based hubs at community colleges, which streamline and centralize operations. IDEAS launched with four pioneering community colleges—Pima Community College in Arizona, College of Lake County in Illinois, and Amarillo College and San Jacinto College in Texas—and three state-level partners.

This structure creates consistency across institutions, making it easier to scale access and ensuring all students can graduate high school with meaningful college momentum.

During the first year partners found that success depends on three things: deep cross-departmental relationships between colleges and K-12 partners, merging recruitment with long-term engagement so DE students can actually use available supports, and building a shared vision between colleges and schools that makes credentialed high-school faculty and course offerings durable.

With additional colleges joining the second cohort, IDEAS is testing and refining the hub model across more regions. Early evidence shows that systems are ready to evolve, and the hub approach can help scale access to dual enrollment across the nation.