College Before College (Part 4): What Should We Actually Measure?

As dual enrollment expands across the country, the conversation is beginning to shift from simple access and participation toward a more complicated question: how do we determine whether acceleration is truly working? A newly released research report from Columbia University’s Community College Research Center offers an important glimpse into how policymakers and institutions are beginning to answer that question through “momentum metrics” tied to college enrollment, persistence, and completion.Corey Alderdice, a national voice on talent and transformation, explores the promise and limitations of data-driven accountability in education, the growing influence of dashboards and measurable outcomes, and the deeper tension between what educational systems can easily quantify and the far more human dimensions of learning, curiosity, growth, and meaning that often resist measurement altogether.Learn more about how dual enrollment outcomes are increasingly being evaluated through predictive “momentum metrics” in the report Dual Enrollment Momentum Metrics: Leading Indicators for Program Improvement.For additional thoughts from Corey, visit coreyalderdice.com.You can also follow him on Twitter/X, LinkedIn, BlueSky, YouTube, Instagram, and Threads.