Equity Alert: Time to Close the Loopholes in Remedial Education at Community Colleges

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For decades, remediation has kept predominantly Black and Latinx students in a detrimental cycle of spending tuition on coursework that does not count as a credit toward transferring or earning degrees. California Assembly Bill 705 was designed to tackle the inequitable challenges of remedial education at California’s Community Colleges. However, several loopholes in the legislation allow colleges to engage in harmful placement and assessment practices. In the Education Trust–West’s latest equity alert, we tackle the three most significant loopholes in AB 705 and emphasize why the state needs to close them to reimagine access to transfer-level courses radically. The report explores the following loopholes derailing student success:

The Placement Loophole
The Maximize Success Loophole
The Corequisites Loophole

In addition, Education Trust–West’s Equity Alert offers recommendations for how California can entirely eliminate remedial English and math courses. Ultimately, direct placement in English and math transfer-level courses, scaling high-impact corequisites that support student success in transfer-level courses, and other recommendations in the Alert will help more students come closer to achieving their academic dreams. Please read and share the new Equity Alert with your network by visiting the link below.