November 15, 2024—EdSource Higher Education reporters Amy DiPierro and Michael Burke speak with Senior Staff Attorney Jetaun Stevens on CA Assembly Bills 705 and 1705. AB “705 allows most students to skip all sorts of remedial classes in favor of full credit courses that can transfer to a four-year college; AB 1705 additionally requires colleges to place more STEM students directly into calculus rather than lower-level courses like precalculus or trigonometry”—granting community college students the right to be placed directly in transfer-level English and Math classes, which significantly increases students’ chances of completing college-level courses and transferring to a four-year college.
“Students should be aware that they have the right to access calculus and, if they want support while they’re in that course, that they’re entitled to get support,” said Jetaun Stevens, a senior staff attorney at the nonprofit law firm Public Advocates.
