Remedial Coursework Reform
Equitable Placement and Completion of Gateway College Courses
Equitable placement and completion of gateway college courses means ensuring that Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) community college students are given equitable access to the courses and academic supports they need to achieve their academic goals by removing archaic placement policies such as inaccurate placement tests and unnecessary pre-transfer level and pre-requisite course requirements.
Why is it important?
Prior to 2017, the CA community college system relied on inaccurate placement tests to determine what math and English course a student was allowed to enroll in. These placement tests would incorrectly label students as unprepared and resulted in 80% of Black and Latinx community college students being denied access to the transfer-level math and English courses they needed to earn their degree and transfer to university. Instead, BIPOC students were forced into remedial courses, wasting time and money retaking classes they successfully completed in high-school. However, decades of research demonstrated that these placement tests were poor predictors of a student’s ability to succeed in transfer-level courses and that remedial courses actually kept students from achieving their academic goals.
In light of this research, advocates fought and won equitable placement & completion policies in AB 705 (Irwin, 2017) and AB 1705 (Irwin, 2022) that:
- Require colleges to enroll all U.S. high school graduates into the transfer-level math or English course that meets the requirements for their academic goal.
- Require colleges to “maximize the probability a student will enter and complete the transfer-level math and English course that meets the requirement of the student’s academic goal, within one year.”
- Prohibit colleges from using placement tests to determine a student’s math or English course placement.
- Require colleges to determine a student’s math or english placement through “multiple measures,” which are different indicators of students ability such as high school grades and high school grade point average.
- Prohibit colleges from requiring a student to repeat courses they successfully completed in high school.
- Prohibit colleges from requiring students to take a remedial* math or English course unless they can show it will improve a student’s chances of passing the transfer-level math or English course. (*Courses taught in college that cover topics usually taught in high school or grade school. While students must pay for remedial courses, they do not get college credit for taking the course.)
- Prohibit colleges from requiring Business Majors to enroll in prerequisite math courses below business calculus unless they can show the courses will improve the student’s chances of passing the business calculus course.
Our Impact
Public Advocates joined the fight for equitable placement & completion policies in 2019 after hearing from our student partner, Student’s Making A Change, that many colleges were slow to comply with the requirements of AB 705 (Irwin, 2017). After 4 years of our legal enforcement work and policy advocacy, only 18 colleges offer remedial math courses.
Timeline
2015
Over 80% of BIPOC community college students are required to take one or more remedial math or English courses. Only 25% of all students taking math in 2015 were able to complete transfer-level math within one year.
2017
AB 705 is passed. It prohibits placement tests, requires colleges to use multiple measures to place students in their math or English course and requires colleges to maximize student entering and completing transfer-level math and English.
2020
PA & California Acceleration Project published “Still Getting There”, highlighting colleges’ lack of compliance with AB 705 and the ongoing impact on Black and Brown students.
2021
PA serves a demand letter to Cosumnes River College and Los Rios Community College District demanding compliance with AB 705. PA petitions the California Community Colleges Board of Governors to amend their regulations to ensure colleges comply with AB 705.
2022
PA co-sponsored bill AB 1705, passes, closing loopholes in AB 705. AB 1705 requires colleges to enroll all U.S. H.S. graduates in transfer-level math and English courses that satisfy the requirements for their academic goal, and requires colleges to prove the benefit of remedial math and English courses and prerequisite transfer-level math courses. PA serves a demand letter to Compton College demanding compliance with AB 1705.
2023
PA advocates for the end of remedial courses in LACCD. Only 18 colleges continue to offer remedial math courses.