Rapid changes in teaching and learning: The response of teachers and students in dual credit courses to online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic

Elizabeth J. Glennie · W. Zach Smith

Nov 2023 · RTI Press

About this ebook

In spring 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic forced schools to switch quickly to online learning. Before then, Hawaiʻi had been expanding its dual credit program, in which high school students could take courses that would yield both high school and college credits. These dual credit programs require partnerships between high schools and colleges.

RTI International conducted a multi-method analysis to examine the effect of this COVID-19–based transition to online learning on the dual credit, analyzing data from the state longitudinal data system and conducting surveys and focus groups of the University of Hawaiʻi’s instructors, high school coordinators, and high school staff involved with program.

From spring 2020 to fall 2020, students took some dual enrollment courses even though offerings and enrollment declined; offerings and enrollment rebounded by spring 2021. The percentage of course-takers earning both high school and college credit remained about the same during this transition. Examining outcomes for student and school subgroups shows that male students struggled more than female students did with enrollment during this transition, and students in rural schools had a steeper decline in the rate of earning both high school and college credits. However, both groups did begin to recover by spring 2021.

About the author

Elizabeth J. Glennie, PhD, is a senior research education analyst in the Center for Education Evaluation and Research at RTI International

W. Zach Smith, MS, is a manager, systems analysis & programming, in the Center for Education Data Integration at RTI International.