Whereas, The California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office (CCCCO) required that all California community colleges submit an Equitable Placement Validation Report on their AB 705 implementation strategies for the lowest GPA band of entering students using a template that asked colleges to report enrollments as placements and de-coupled pre-transfer level coursework from college-level courses (with or without a corequisite) so colleges could not separate enrollments from placement, and colleges might have reported intermediate algebra as a college-level course;
Whereas, Most California community colleges’ pre-college level mathematics courses are two or more levels below transfer, and the Equitable Placement Validation Report template allowed for a local comparison of throughput rates of pre-transfer level courses and pre-college level courses resulting in an outcome that over 90% of California community colleges were not maximizing throughput;
Whereas, Previous CCCCO memos related to AB 705 were co-signed by the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges (ASCCC), but the CCCCO memo ESS 21-300-015 (November 18, 2021) was not co-signed by the ASCCC, and ESS 21-300-015 strongly guides colleges to place students in transfer-level courses based on the outcomes from the Equitable Placement Validation Report, and colleges should ensure that placements are equitable and do not disproportionately impact students regardless of GPA; and
Whereas, The charge of the ASCCC’s Data and Research Task Force is “to assist local academic senates in using data effectively to improve teaching and learning,” “to establish data-driven processes to evaluate and advance diversity, equity, and inclusion in areas of academic and professional matters,” and to include “data examination and exploration to improve educational programs and services to students;”
Resolved, That the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges and the ASCCC Data and Research Task Force work with the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office to develop more robust and thorough methodologies that provide student-centered guidance to colleges that account for the differences among pre-college level, college level, and transfer level when reporting on AB 705 implementation efforts for disproportionate impacts;
Resolved, That the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges and the ASCCC Data and Research Task Force work with the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office to examine throughput rates for students who begin one level below transfer and throughput rates for students who begin in transfer level and receive a substandard grade; and
Resolved, That the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges and the ASCCC Data and Research Task Force work with the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office to reinvestigate the outcomes of the 2021 Equitable Placement Validation Report in light of the clearer definitions of course levels, course enrollment, and course placement and include disaggregated student outcomes for all GPA bands and course-taking patterns.
MSC