Dual Credit Challenge: Expanding Access While Upholding Standards

The Dual Credit Challenge: Expanding Access While Upholding Standards will focus on one of the most persistent and consequential questions in dual and concurrent enrollment: how to broaden student access without compromising academic rigor. Through a keynote address and interactive breakout sessions, participants will examine the structural, financial, and academic barriers that shape who participates in DE/CE, alongside the policies and practices that safeguard course quality, instructor credentials, curricular alignment, and transferability.

Conference subthemes will highlight access—including advising, pathways, and career exploration—and standards, with attention to policy, instructional practices, and transferability. Presentations will explore how access and rigor are often framed as competing priorities, despite being deeply interconnected in practice. Attendees will engage with data, policy frameworks, and institutional case studies that demonstrate how intentional program design, clear expectations, and coordinated support systems can expand opportunity while preserving the integrity of college-level coursework. Participants will leave with practical insights and adaptable strategies to strengthen access in dual and concurrent enrollment while upholding high academic standards.

Keynote Speaker: Anna O'Connor, Senior Director at Jobs for the Future