SECTION 1.
The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:(a) The California community college system is the nation’s largest system of higher education, and a critical entry point to higher education and opportunities for upward mobility.
(b) California’s community colleges identify more than 75 percent of its students as underprepared, and refer this overwhelming majority of students to remedial courses.
(c) The choice of assessment instruments and placement policies has serious implications for equity, since students of color are more likely to be placed into remedial courses.
(d) There are serious adverse consequences to a college incorrectly assigning a prepared student to remediation. These adverse consequences include discouraging some students from pursuing a postsecondary education, as well as burdening other students with higher educational costs and delaying their degree plans.
(e) Students placed into remediation are much less likely to reach their educational goals. According to the Student Success Scorecard, just 40 percent go on to complete a degree, certificate, or transfer outcome in six years, compared to 70 percent for students allowed to enroll directly in college-level courses.
(f) Numerous reputable studies suggest that community colleges are placing too many students into remediation and that many more students would complete transfer requirements in math and English if
allowed to bypass remedial prerequisite courses and enroll directly in transfer-level English and math courses.
(g) The Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges has established rules to protect students from being excluded from courses in which they can be successful. This was in response to a Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund lawsuit that was settled in 1991 and was driven by concerns that assessment tests disproportionately placed Latino students into remedial prerequisite courses.
(h) Community colleges are prohibited from requiring students to take a prerequisite course unless they are highly unlikely to succeed in a higher-level course without it pursuant to Section 55003 of Title 5 of the California Code of Regulations, but this policy is not followed in practice. In math, broad exceptions allow community colleges to block students from courses
in which they can be successful in the service of four-year university transfer policies.
(i) Colleges are also required to use multiple measures in determining course placement pursuant to Section 55522 of Title 5 of the California Code of Regulations, but Title 5 of the California Code of Regulations does not provide enough guidance in the use of multiple measures to ensure that students are not excluded from courses in which they can be successful.
(j) A 2016 report by the Public Policy Institute of California found that California community colleges still use placement tests extensively, and that the use of other student achievement measures for placement was sparse and unsystematic.
(k) There is evidence that when used as the primary criterion for placement, these tests tend to underplace students—leading
colleges to assign students to remedial courses when those students could have succeeded in college-level courses. The reliance of test scores as the determinant factor for high-stakes placement decisions runs contrary to testing industry norms.
(l) Research shows that a student’s high school transcript is a much stronger predictor of success in college-level courses than standardized placement tests.
(m) The community college system is in a good position to improve placement practices. The system’s Multiple Measures Assessment Project and Common Assessment Initiative have conducted deep and research-driven work on the use of high school transcripts to greatly improve the accuracy of the placement process.
(n) The Legislature has made significant investments to improve student assessment and placement. These
investments most recently include the Community College Basic Skills and Student Outcomes Transformation Program grants, which are providing selected colleges with funding to redesign remedial assessment and placement, as well as curriculum and career pathways.
(o) The goal of this act is to ensure that students are not placed into remedial courses that may delay or deter their educational progress unless evidence suggests they are highly unlikely to succeed in the college-level course.