These resources are designed to help colleges understand DESSE, interpret their findings, connect results to institutional priorities, and engage faculty, staff, and partners in data-informed discussion and action planning.
DESSE Focus Areas
The DESSE Focus Areas tool provides an overview of the major topics examined through the survey. Colleges can use it to understand how individual survey items connect to broader dimensions of the dual enrollment student experience, including access, teaching and learning, advising, support, belonging, barriers, and future plans.
Focus Areas
Academic Advising and Planning
Academic Challenge
Active and Collaborative Learning
Barriers to Persistence
Career Counseling
Course Taking
Getting Started
Goals
Instructor Expectations
Motivation and Preparedness
Sense of Belonging
Stigma
Student Effort
Student-Faculty Interaction
Support Services
DESSE Data Narrative Tool
The DESSE Data Narrative Tool helps colleges move from reviewing survey results to identifying the story the data tell. It guides users through examining key findings, identifying patterns and differences, considering possible explanations, and determining where additional discussion or action may be needed.
Education-to-Workforce Indicator Framework Crosswalk
The DESSE Education-to-Workforce Indicator Framework Crosswalk connects DESSE survey items with relevant indicators in the Education-to-Workforce Indicator Framework, commonly referred to as the E-W Framework.
The E-W Framework provides guidance for using data to advance educational and economic opportunity. It identifies important student outcomes and milestones, system conditions, disaggregates, and evidence-based practices across the education-to-workforce continuum.
Colleges can use the DESSE crosswalk to understand how students’ reported dual enrollment experiences relate to broader indicators associated with educational progress, economic mobility, and the conditions that support students as they move from education into the workforce.
Learn more about the Education-to-Workforce Indicator Framework
DESSE Self-Directed Workshop Guide
The DESSE Self-Directed Workshop Guide provides a structured process for faculty, staff, college leaders, and school partners to review DESSE findings together. The guide includes activities and discussion prompts that help participants identify strengths, explore gaps, establish priorities, and consider next steps.
Related Publications
The following publications draw on DESSE findings or examine the importance of understanding the dual enrollment student experience. These resources provide additional context for colleges and their partners as they review dual enrollment programs, student experiences, and opportunities for improvement.
Adkins, C., Manapat, P., García, L., & Bohlig, E. M. (2025). The varied nature of the dual enrollment student experience. Educational Considerations, 50(2), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.4148/0146-9282.242
What We’re Learning About the Dual Enrollment Student Experience. (2023). Roueche Center Forum, Diverse: Issues in Higher Education. https://lsc-pagepro.mydigitalpublication.com/publication/?m=6407&i=801704&p=42&ver=html5
Adkins, C., & García, L. L. (2023). Dual enrollment in community colleges: The importance of understanding the student experience. Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, 55(2), 20–27. https://doi.org/10.1080/00091383.2023.2182059
