Leveraging State Data Systems to Address
Policy-Relevant Research: The Case of
Dual Enrollment

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Description

Dual enrollment is a complex policy issue and is increasingly of interest to state policymakers. Adequate data and data systems are critical to informing dual enrollment policy, yet the data at the federal level and many state data systems suffer from common challenges and lack the capacity to address dual enrollment policy. We review the programmatic components that make dual enrollment a complex policy topic and then outlines the features of dual enrollment that make it a topic of interest for state leaders, and underscores the benefits of dual enrollment data collection and reporting. We then describe national data on dual enrollment and note the shortcomings inherent in each. Given that dual enrollment programs vary tremendously by state, we subsequently examine the limitations of existing state dual enrollment data and data systems and highlight states with robust dual enrollment data collection and data reporting systems.