Blog | Getting Smart

The third installment in our four-part series with Britebound moves beyond course design to ask a harder question: who is responsible when a student struggles? This post makes the case that robust dual enrollment requires named staff, early drop windows, family scaffolding, and mentors who open doors to careers students have never had reason to imagine. For district leaders building or scaling concurrent enrollment programs, this is the support infrastructure blueprint you have been looking for.

Difference Making

Before Students Miss the Opportunity, Adults Miss the Signal

Guest Author

Sep 17, 2026

By: AJ Gutierrez Since 2021, U.S. public schools have lost about 1.18 million students. Projections indicate that enrollment will further decline by 2.7 million students by 2031. To better serve students, schools have an opportunity to better understand their…

Equity & Access

Steward Stories: How Big Thought Turned Compelling Questions Into a Citywide Learning System

Guest Author

Sep 17, 2026

What does it look like when a city becomes a learning system? Big Thought's story spans 35 years, 480,000 young people, and a foundational insight that changed everything: dosage matters, but it doesn't have to happen inside a single organization. This Steward Story traces how Erin Offord, Greg MacPherson, and the leaders who came before them built Dallas City of Learning into one of the country's most sophisticated learning-ecosystem intermediaries. For education leaders thinking about scale, community partnership, and what real systems change requires, this one is essential reading.

New Pathways

What Makes Dual Enrollment Actually Work: Building Pathways Students Can Actually Trust

Getting Smart Staff

Sep 15, 2026

A student can earn a dual enrollment credit, feel proud of the work, and still discover a year later that it transfers nowhere they actually plan to go. Blog 2 of our series with Britebound examines what it takes to build guided pathways that genuinely count and postsecondary partnerships that share vision, budget, and responsibility rather than simply purchasing seats. For district leaders and intermediaries, this post offers concrete questions to ask and a framework for knowing whether your dual enrollment model is keeping its promise to students.

	Beginning	Piloting	Implementing
From Fixed Standards to Competency-Based Mastery	BeginningFrom Fixed Standards to Competency-Based Mastery Beginning	PilotingFrom Fixed Standards to Competency-Based Mastery Piloting	ImplementingFrom Fixed Standards to Competency-Based Mastery Implementing
From One-Size-Fits-All to Adaptive Learning	BeginningFrom One-Size-Fits-All to Adaptive Learning Beginning	PilotingFrom One-Size-Fits-All to Adaptive Learning Piloting	ImplementingFrom One-Size-Fits-All to Adaptive Learning Implementing
From Prescribed Knowledge to Innovation & Inquiry	BeginningFrom Prescribed Knowledge to Innovation & Inquiry Beginning	PilotingFrom Prescribed Knowledge to Innovation & Inquiry Piloting	ImplementingFrom Prescribed Knowledge to Innovation & Inquiry Implementing
From Subjects as Silos to Transdisciplinary, Real-World Learning	BeginningFrom Subjects as Silos to Transdisciplinary, Real-World Learning Beginning	PilotingFrom Subjects as Silos to Transdisciplinary, Real-World Learning Piloting	ImplementingFrom Subjects as Silos to Transdisciplinary, Real-World Learning Implementing
From Schools as Self-Contained to Schools as Embedded in Communities	BeginningFrom Schools as Self-Contained to Schools as Embedded in Communities Beginning	PilotingFrom Schools as Self-Contained to Schools as Embedded in Communities Piloting	ImplementingFrom Schools as Self-Contained to Schools as Embedded in Communities Implementing
From Standardized Testing to Meaningful Assessment	BeginningFrom Standardized Testing to Meaningful Assessment Beginning	PilotingFrom Standardized Testing to Meaningful Assessment Piloting	ImplementingFrom Standardized Testing to Meaningful Assessment Implementing
From Institutional Ownership of Student Data to Student-Controlled Learning Wallets	BeginningFrom Institutional Ownership of Student Data to Student-Controlled Learning Wallets Beginning	PilotingFrom Institutional Ownership of Student Data to Student-Controlled Learning Wallets Piloting	ImplementingFrom Institutional Ownership of Student Data to Student-Controlled Learning Wallets Implementing

Advocacy

Advisory

Topics

Recent Releases

Subscribe to Our Podcast

Find us on: