Dual enrollment in California: the law behind it

The statute

Cal. Educ. Code § 76004

College and Career Access Pathways partnerships .

The section that created CCAP and the one to read before a family signs anything. It requires a written partnership agreement between a community college district and a school district, county office of education, or charter school, approved by both governing boards at public meetings. It caps a special part-time student at fifteen units per term and at no more than four community college courses per term when the student is pursuing a diploma and an associate degree together. It bars fees prohibited by section 49011 and exempts pupils in required CCAP courses from certain fee requirements, and it sets the annual reporting each college owes the Chancellor.

Cal. Educ. Code § 48800

Special part-time and full-time students .

The route that existed before CCAP and still carries most individual enrollments. The school district governing board decides which pupils would benefit from advanced scholastic or vocational work and may authorise them to attend a community college as special part-time or full-time students. Parental consent and the principal’s recommendation are both required. For summer session the section is stricter, limiting a principal to recommending no more than five percent of a grade level, with exceptions for college transfer and career technical courses.

Who pays, and under what authority

CCAP grant program

California Department of Education, College and Career Access Pathways grant .

The grant that pays districts to build CCAP partnerships, and a useful check on what the state is trying to buy. The purpose and structure described here explain why CCAP agreements tend to target students who are not already headed to college, since that targeting is written into the program rather than chosen locally.

Agency guidance

CCCCO dual enrollment

California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office, dual enrollment .

The system office’s explanation of how the two routes differ in practice and what a CCAP course looks like on the ground, usually taught on the high school campus during the regular school day by a college instructor. It is the page to send a family that has heard "dual enrollment" and "CCAP" used as though they mean the same thing.

Who administers it

These are the offices that answer a question about California law rather than about one school or one campus. A district and a college can both be wrong about a state rule, and these pages are where the state's own position is published.

• California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office · Approves and receives reports on CCAP partnerships across the 116 colleges.
• California Department of Education · Runs the CCAP grant and the K-12 side of the partnership.
• California Legislative Information · Where the current text of both Education Code sections is published.

Frequently asked

Is there a California administrative rule for dual enrollment?

None specific to dual enrollment turned up. California puts the detail in the Education Code and in each CCAP partnership agreement, which is why the agreement is the document to ask a district for.

What is the unit cap?

Section 76004 allows a special part-time student up to fifteen units per term and no more than four community college courses per term when pursuing a diploma and an associate degree together.

Does a student need a principal’s signature?

Under section 48800, yes: enrollment requires the recommendation of the principal of the pupil’s school along with parental consent. A CCAP course taken as part of the partnership works differently.

Who approves a CCAP partnership?

Both governing boards, at public meetings, after the college consults the local workforce development board about any career technical pathway in the agreement.