Don’t Hold Us Back: The Impact of Remediation Across California

The insights of students into their lived experiences of remediation must shape how legislators and community college leaders make effective decisions about remedial education reform. To support equitable, student-informed decision-making, The Education Trust—West hosted five focus groups with Black and Latinx California Community College students to learn about their experiences in remedial courses and in transfer-level courses with corequisite support. Here we share students’ perspectives on 1) the academic and social supports they found impactful, 2) how remedial courses and transfer-level courses with corequisites impacted their opinions of themselves and their campuses, and 3) improvements to remediation that would help more community college students graduate.