Dual Enrollment: The Central Valley Way
Porterville College 2024-2025 Academic Year
3,308
Total full-time equivalent (FTE) enrollment (credit)
131
Number of dual enrollment course sections offered (CCAP)
57
Number of dual enrollment course sections taught by high school teachers who meet minimum qualifications (MQs)
0
Total number of students enrolled in dual enrollment courses (CCAP)
2,604
Total number of high school students enrolled in courses
Statistics from DataMart 2024-2025
Pathways: Porterville College offers 11 dual enrollment pathways.
Who Was at the Table?
Porterville College (PC)
- Thad Russell – Vice President of Instruction
- Erin Wingfield – Interim Vice President of Student Services
- Jackie Salas – Dual Enrollment Counselor
- Lorena Villa – Early College Coordinator
- Gloriann Garza – Program Manager
Porterville Unified School District (PUSD)
- Martha Stemky – Assistant Superintendent, Instructional Services
- Veronica Zarco – Dean of Counseling, Granite Hills High School
Burton School District
- Martin Medina – Principal, Summit Collegiate High School
Our Dual Enrollment Story
Porterville College (PC) has built long-standing partnerships with Porterville Unified School District (PUSD) and Burton School District. The early college model has experienced dramatic growth, especially at Summit Collegiate High School, which went from two A.A. completers in 2018 to nearly 25 completers in the most recent year.
The partnership emphasizes exposure to college coursework, with a target of at least 15 units for all students while maintaining pathways for full associate degree completion.
To foster communication and alignment, the college and its partners implemented a shared governance structure:
- Core Team: Admissions & Records, Student Services, Early College staff, and advisors meet frequently.
- Coordinating Council: Includes all high school partners and meets 2–3 times per semester to align calendars, policies, and solve problems collaboratively.
“We’re trying to eliminate the siloing… by distributing information across as many people as we can. That’s succession planning.”
Thad Russell
Best Practices and High Impact Strategies
1. Partnership Infrastructure & Continuity
The Coordinating Council and Core Team create a community of practice, ensuring decisions are shared openly and institutional memory is preserved despite staff turnover.
“It’s about creating systems that are going to outlive us… policies we put into place as we learn.” – Martin Medina
2. On-Site College Presence – Student-First Service Design
- Mobile College Counselor Model: PC’s dual enrollment counselor rotates across high schools daily, using QR code self-scheduling and pulls students out of class to meet if they are flagged by early alerts.
- Advisors are present weekly on high school campuses.
- Bilingual parent orientations are offered in English and Spanish, both in person and via Zoom, with recordings posted online.
“I no longer have an office at Porterville College—I have a mobile office at the high schools so students can find me.” – Jackie Salas
3. Early Alert & Academic Safeguards
- The Navigate early-alert system routes dual enrollment students directly to the counselor or advisor for same-day intervention.
- D/F Stop-Out Policy: Students who earn a D or F cannot enroll in new college courses until the grade is addressed, preventing long-term transcript damage.
“We’re limiting the damage to one course… avoiding the death spiral of probation.” – Thad Russell
4. Structured Onboarding & Equitable Access
- 9th-Grade Academic Success Course: All Summit Collegiate High School 9th graders are enrolled as Porterville College students from semester one, learning college platforms and exploring sequenced pathways.
- Student support:
- District-funded textbooks
- Transportation for off-site classes
- Honors GPA bump for dual enrollment courses
- Proctored labs for online PC courses on high school campuses
- Tutoring through PC’s Learning Resource Center, both in person and via Zoom.
“Our students can’t always get help at home… we provide a lot of hand-holding and clear routes to tutoring.” – Jackie Salas
5. Smart Scheduling & Staffing Flexibility
High schools submit section requests and preferred times and college division chairs staff classes through:
- High school instructors who meet minimum qualifications, or
- Teach online courses when faculty cannot teach in person at the high school but visit the classroom in person periodically (some PC faculty do this even though they are not required to do so.)
Applications and registration are managed through DualEnroll.com, which has provided efficiency, with paper consent forms available for families who lack reliable technology.
6. Course Mix Aligned to Cal-GETC & Pathways
PUSD have refined course offerings to avoid random accumulation of units and ensure alignment with Cal-GETC and pathway requirements.
“We cut back to be more mindful and strategic, so students don’t end up with units that hurt financial aid or don’t apply well.” – Veronica Zarco
Challenges and Rural Realities
Recruitment
It is difficult to recruit faculty who meet the minimum qualifications to teach courses in pathways due to distance between nearby colleges in Fresno and Bakersfield.
Transportation
Distances between colleges and remote high schools create transportation issues.
Technology Access Gaps
Gaps in access to technology and a digital divide impacts families and students in rural communities
Funding and Staffing Gaps
Funding and staffing gaps – Positions often depend on temporary grants, creating instability and requiring creative budget solutions.
Strategies to Overcome Obstacles
Flexible Faculty Solutions
Recruit local high school teachers with master’s degrees and offer sections online when faculty are unable to teach in the high schools. Use of right-of-assignment policies to prioritize high school course delivery.
Provide flexible modalities
Provide flexible modalities such Zoom, phone calls, and online forms embedded into the high school day help students who cannot travel to PC offices after school.
Flexible Enrollment Processes
Implement flexible enrollment processes such as paper consent forms when parents can’t access online forms then upload them into DualEnroll.com; provide bilingual orientations expand reach.
“We try not to place salaries on grants because of institutionalization concerns—even if that’s hard.”
Thad Russell
Voices from Students & Families
- Strong demand: Student awareness starts as early as 8th grade.
- Parent interest: Driven by cost savings and access to college, but mismatches occur when families push for an A.A. before students are developmentally ready.
- Counselors play a key role in navigating readiness conversations.
“We have to have tough conversations—these are still 15–16-year-olds and maturity varies.”
Martin Medina
Recommendations for Funders and Policymakers
Fund the people, not just the pilots.
“My dual-enrollment counselor role is contingent on funding—we need support to keep positions like this.” – Jackie Salas
Remove cost barriers for students.
“If we can’t purchase the textbooks, it becomes tricky to offer courses.” – Veronica Zarco
Enable a true K-14/16 system by supporting science labs, easing pathways, and incentivizing shared services between colleges and districts.
“We need better K-14/16 systems and flexibility so students can access the sciences that are hardest to staff.” – Martin Medina
Outcomes and Impact
Summit Collegiate increased the number of A.A. degree completers from 2 students in 2018 to nearly 25 in the most recent year.
Goal: At least 15 units completed per high school student, expanding exposure to college-level coursework.
Institutional support: weighted GPA, textbook funding, transportation support, and tutoring access.
Bottom Line
Porterville College and its K-12 partners have developed a scalable rural model that transforms constraints into repeatable systems. By focusing on early intervention, structured onboarding, and sustainable staffing, they’ve built a foundation for long-term success. Continued investment in people and processes will ensure students graduate college-ready and equipped for future pathways.
“These practices show why sustained investment is essential to keep the momentum.”
Thad Russell
“Policies we create today must outlive us and continue to benefit students for years to come.”
Martin Medina
Rural Colleges’ Dual Enrollment Stories and Strategies
Dual Enrollment: The Central Valley Way
Table of Contents
- Dual Enrollment: The Central Valley Way
- Coalinga College x Mendota High School
- Columbia College x Summerville High School & Sonora High School
- Lemoore College x Lemoore & Caruthers High Schools
- Merced College x Merced Union High School District
- Porterville College x Porterville Unified High School District and Burton High School
- Reedley College x Sanger Unified School District
- San Joaquin Delta College x Stagg High School x College Bridge Model
- Taft College x Taft Union High School
- Overarching Themes, Best Practices, and Future Directions
Resources
Career Ladders Project
- Dual Enrollment Access Gap Tool
- Dual Enrollment Community of Practice
- Dual Enrollment for Equitable Completion Framework
- Dual Enrollment Implementation Roadmap
- Dual Enrollment Scheduling Tool
- Dual Enrollment Tool Kit
- Equitable Dual Enrollment: A Policy to Practice Guide
Central Valley Higher Education Consortium (CVHEC)
- Master’s Upskilling
- CVHEC Dual Enrollment Listserv (to subscribe to this list, email cvhecinfo@mail.fresnostate.edu)
College Bridge
Dual Enrollment Document Samples
- College and Career Access Pathways (CCAP) Kern CCD CCAP Example
- Foothill DeAnza MOU Template
National and State Organizations
- Aspen Institute (& CCRC) Dual Enrollment Playbook & Summary of the Dual Enrollment Playbook
- Community College Resource Center (CCRC) Dual Enrollment Dashboard and College Business Models for Scaling Purposeful Dual Enrollment
- Cradle to Career database
- EdTrust-West and Career Ladders Project-Advancing Equitable Dual Enrollment in California Practitioner Guides
- Los Angeles Orange County Regional Consortium (LAOCRC) Dual Enrollment Handbook
- National Alliance of Concurrent Enrollment Partnerships (NACEP) quality standards guiding principles & remote dual enrollment
- Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) Making Gains in Math Through Dual Enrollment
- Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) Making Gains in Gateway English and ESL through Dual Enrollment
References
- California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office. The Economic Value of the California Community Colleges System (Exec. Summary, 2025). (Taxpayer benefits & public-sector savings).
- Central Valley Higher Education Consortium. (2020). Dual Enrollment in the Central Valley: Working Toward a Unified Approach for Equity and Prosperity. [White Paper]. Retrieved from https://cvhec.org.
- Central Valley Higher Education Consortium. (2024). CVHEC Teacher Upskilling Program for Master’s Degrees Supports Dual Enrollment. CVHEC News Release.
- Central Valley Higher Education Consortium. (2023). WE Will! K-16: CVHEC Dual Enrollment Projects in North Valley. CVHEC News.