ICYMI: University Business highlights how Accelerate ASU is expanding access to dual enrollment

A young person with long dark hair, clear-framed glasses, and a pink shirt leans over to look at a laptop screen alongside another young person with curly hair and glasses in a black t-shirt. A third person sits blurred in the background working on a laptop.

National publication explores how schools are using Accelerate ASU to reach students who have traditionally faced barriers to college-level learning

University Business looked at the design choices behind Accelerate ASU dual enrollment and what they mean for schools that sit far from a college campus or serve neurodivergent learners. Three partner schools shared results.

What students typically face with dual enrollment

Most dual enrollment depends on proximity. A high school and a college have to sit close enough to share instructors and classrooms, which leaves rural districts out of the arrangement entirely. Sarah Bixler, senior director of Accelerate ASU, told University Business that this design quietly limits who gets to try college coursework.

The attainment gap follows the geography. University Business cites federal and Lumina Foundation data showing that roughly 21% of rural Americans age 25 and older hold a bachelor’s degree, against 35.7% of adults outside rural areas.

Neurodivergent students hit a different wall. Students with ADHD, autism or anxiety disorders often struggle in a traditional classroom and finish high school without the GPA a dual enrollment program requires.

Then there is staffing. Many districts, rural or not, cannot find or fund teachers who hold the graduate credentials a college requires to teach its courses.

What the Accelerate ASU dual enrollment model does differently

ASU faculty design, teach and grade every course. A partner school does not need to hire a credentialed instructor, which removes the single largest cost and staffing barrier for a district that wants to offer college credit.

There is no minimum GPA. All learning materials sit inside the course, so families pay nothing for textbooks and the accessibility features come built in.

Every class runs asynchronously. Districts fit college coursework into whatever schedule they already run, including the four-day and block schedules more schools are testing.

What three ASU partner schools reported

Elma School District in rural Washington tripled its four-year college-going rate over three years and lifted overall postsecondary participation by 20%, according to Superintendent Christopher Nesmith.

At Gateway Academy in Arizona, a private school for neurodivergent students, learners frequently complete 10 or more college-level courses before they graduate.

Staff at Palmetto Bay Academy in Miami coach students through the practical work of college: emailing an instructor, planning a week, keeping pace with a syllabus. Bixler pointed to that local support as the strongest predictor of whether a student finishes.

The number underneath it

Accelerate ASU has enrolled more than 35,000 students since 2021 across 800+ K12 partner schools nationwide, with 11,000 of those enrollments landing in the last academic year alone.

“Geography shouldn’t dictate opportunity,” Bixler told University Business.

Read the full article

Dual enrollment: How to enhance results for underserved students, University Business, July 20, 2026.

Schools interested in offering ASU courses can start a partnership conversation.