1. Implementing Changes with AB 705 “What’s Legal and what’s Not”
Karen Daar, Vice President of Academic Affairs, Los Angeles Valley College
Ginni May, ASCCC Treasurer, Curriculum Chair, 5C Co-Chair
CCCCIO 2018 Fall Conference
October 25, 2018
Dana on Mission Bay, San Diego
Karen: Today’s goals are to identify gaps and issues still needing to be addressed, share info, and clarify rumors.

2. Requirements of the law and definitions
Ginni—presentation will focus more on the Math and English guidance for implementation fall Expecting further ESL guidance later this year for fall 2020 implementation.

3. AB 705 High School Coursework High School GPA High School Grades
AB 705 (signed October 13, 2017) requires colleges to use one or more of the following when placing students into courses in mathematics and English:
High School Coursework
High School GPA
High School Grades
If colleges are not able to obtain official transcript data, they can use self-reported data or guided placement.
Colleges must fully comply with the requirements for mathematics and English by Fall
Ginni

4. AB 705 – Highly Unlikely and Maximize Probability
"a community college district or college cannot require a student to enroll in remedial English or mathematics coursework that lengthens their time to complete a degree unless placement research that includes consideration of high school grade point average and coursework shows that those students are highly unlikely to succeed in transfer-level coursework in English and mathematics”
“placement models selected by a community college demonstrate that they guide English and mathematics placements to achieve the goal of maximizing the probability that a student will enter and complete transfer-level coursework in English and mathematics within a one-year timeframe”
Ginni

5. What is the definition of “highly unlikely to succeed”?
There is no statewide definition of highly unlikely to succeed. Although state groups have various definitions that range between 4% and 49%, this is ultimately a local decision.
The Chancellor’s Office has indicated that they are more concerned with throughput than what colleges set as the threshold for highly unlikely to succeed.
Colleges are permitted to place students into a below transfer-level course only if the student is highly unlikely to succeed at the transfer level and the college can demonstrate that the students’ likelihood of completing transfer level in one year is at least as high as direct placement.
Ginni

6. AB 705: What is a Year?
Per the memo from the Chancellor’s Office, a one-year time frame will be two semesters (or three quarters).
Clock begins when student enrolls in a credit or noncredit course that is part of a sequence leading to transfer level.
If a student was placed more than one level below transfer, it would be impossible for them to complete transfer level course work in one year at a semester college with traditional models.
Ginni

7. If a noncredit student enrolls in a noncredit mathematics or English course does it start the one-year clock?
No, the clock only applies to students that are seeking an associate degree or transfer that are enrolled in the credit program.
Ginni

8. If a credit student enrolls in a noncredit mathematics or English course does it start the one-year clock?
This may start the clock if the noncredit course is part of a sequence leading to transfer level.
Remember that colleges are not responsible for a student choosing to take a noncredit course, they are responsible for placing a student into a course that maximizes the probability that a student completes transfer level in one year.
Ginni

9. Existing Prerequisites and Archiving Courses
Do I need to change or delete my current English and math prerequisites and archive all “basic skills” or pre-transfer courses?
No, colleges are NOT required to change prerequisites and can still offer “basic skills” or pre-transfer courses for students.
CA Ed Code § :
(2) In addition to the primary mission of academic and vocational instruction, the community colleges shall offer instruction and courses to achieve all of the following:
(A) The provision of remedial instruction for those in need of it and, in conjunction with the school districts, instruction in English as a second language, adult noncredit instruction, and support services which help students succeed at the postsecondary level are reaffirmed and supported as essential and important functions of the community colleges.
Karen

10. Existing Prerequisites and Archiving Courses
Do I need to change or delete my current English and math prerequisites and archive all “basic skills” or pre-transfer courses?
Colleges should not delete any prerequisites at this time.
Modifying prerequisites will require colleges to resubmit courses for articulation review and there is currently no guarantee your courses will be approved.
In reviewing courses for potential transferability, UC checks for but does not evaluate the prerequisite/co-requisite in TCA submissions. See the BOARS Statement on Basic Math for all Admitted UC Students:
Karen: Clarified in a September 20, 2018 memo on UC TCA Guidelines for courses in English, Mathematics and Statistics.

11. Will my college be penalized if a student does not complete transfer-level English or mathematics in the one year timeframe?
No, your college will not be penalized, under AB 705.
Colleges are required to create curricular structures and implement placement that will maximize a student’s probability of completing transfer level, but colleges cannot force students to take certain courses and colleges cannot guarantee students will be successful.
Karen

12. The Student Centered Funding Formula
Completion Benchmark
Points Awarded to College District
Local Associate Degree or Baccalaureate Degree (excludes ADT)
3 (per degree)
Associate Degree for Transfer (ADT)
4 (per degree)
Certificate of Achievement (16 or more units)
2 (per certificate)
Transfer level math and English within 1st year
2 (per student)
Transfer to a four-year university
1.5 (per student)
Nine or more CTE units
1 (per student)
Obtains a regional living wage within one year of community college completion
Karen

13. Encourage Innovation? You Should!
Stretch courses
New Curriculum (have two years to collect and validate data)
Redesigned Basic Skills or pre-transfer courses
Modularized support
Scheduling adjustments (i.e., offering noncredit or support courses later in the term, block scheduling, drop back policy, others???)
Karen

14. Default placement rules
Ginni: Definition of throughput rate—proportion of cohort of students who complete the transferable or gateway Math or English course within two semesters or three quarters entering their first course in the sequence.

15. Default Rules for English
High School Performance Metric for English
Recommended AB 705 Placement for English
HSGPA ≥ 2.6
Throughput rate of 79%
Transfer-Level English Composition
No additional academic or concurrent support required
HSGPA
Throughput rate of 58%
Additional academic and concurrent support recommended
HSGPA < 1.9
Throughput rate of 42%
Additional academic and concurrent support strongly recommended
Ginni

16. Default Rules for SLAM
High School Performance Metric for Statistics/Liberal Arts Mathematics
Recommended AB 705 Placement for Statistics/Liberal Arts Mathematics
HSGPA ≥ 3.0
Throughput rate of 75%
Transfer-Level Statistics/Liberal Arts Mathematics
No additional academic or concurrent support required for students
HSGPA from 2.3 to 2.9
Throughput rate of 48%
Additional academic and concurrent support recommended for students
HSGPA < 2.3
Throughput rate of 29%
Additional academic and concurrent support strongly recommended for students
Ginni

17. Default Rules for B-STEM
High School Performance Metric BSTEM Mathematics
Recommended AB 705 Placement for BSTEM Mathematics
HSGPA ≥ 3.4 or
HSGPA ≥ 2.6 AND enrolled in a HS Calculus course
Throughput rate of 74%
Transfer-Level BSTEM Mathematics
No additional academic or concurrent support required for students
HSGPA ≥2.6 or Enrolled in HS Precalculus
Throughput rate of 54%
Additional academic and concurrent support recommended for students
HSGPA ≤ 2.6 and no Precalculus
Throughput rate of 28%
Additional academic and concurrent support strongly recommended for students
Ginni
This table assumes completion of Intermediate Algebra/
Algebra II or equivalent such at Integrated Math III.

18. What the Default Rules Are/Aren’t?
The default rules are based on statistical analysis of previous students and then the predicted success rates were adjusted to account for the vast majority of students going straight to transfer level.
As they are written, the default rules are not really placement models because they give access to transfer level to all students that have 11th grade high school GPAs available.
If your college is not going to require a corequisite and will allow the students to choose whether they will do any concurrent support, students are not really going through traditional assessment and placement, but they still need to understand how different pathways may or may not align with their education and career goals.
Ginni

19. Local Placement process
Ginni

20. Placing Students Colleges may choose to
allow all students to access the first transferable course on their pathway, and possibly require them to enroll in a corequisite course (credit or noncredit), or
place the student into a below transfer-level course.
Remember that requiring students to take a prerequisite course that is below transfer or a corequisite does require some type of validation.
For existing courses, this validation must be done with historical data.
For new curriculum, colleges have up to two years to collect the required validation data.
Ginni

21. Creating Placement Models
The default rules specify that students with 11th grade high school transcript data should be placed into transfer-level courses (with the exception of B-STEM if the student has never taken Intermediate Algebra/Algebra 2/Integrated Math III).
Colleges can consider other information, like specific course grades and courses completed, when determining how to place a student.
For example, a student might have had a 2.4 GPA in high school, which your college has determined would place the student into freshmen composition without a corequisite, but this student received two Cs and a D in the first three years of high school English. Your placement model could require students with this GPA to take a corequisite if they did not earn at least a C in each of their high school English courses.
Ginni

22. Onboarding Students
The AB 705 requirements will be integrated into the onboarding process that colleges will be developing with their Guided Pathways work.
Whether students have complete high school transcripts or not, colleges should consider including the following steps when onboarding a new student:
Career Counseling
Select a major or meta major (or whatever your college has named groupings of majors)
Identify the educational goal
Colleges may want to have sample assignments for students to choose between particular mathematics options or to decide between English or ESL pathways.
Students should not be expected to complete any problems as part of the assessment and placement process. This would be considered a placement test and would need to be approved by the Board of Governors.
Ginni

23. Sample student placement

24. Scenario Questions
For each of the following student cases, think about how you would answer the following questions.
Is there any other information you would like to know before placing this student?
What English class would you place this student into?
Would you require this student to participate in concurrent support for English?
What math class would you place the student into?
Would you require the student to participate in concurrent support for their math course?
Karen

25. Student A
Matthew is a 19-year-old HS graduate that qualified for the College Promise
Matt graduated high school in the spring and was accepted to Sacramento State as a Biology major out of high school, but was not accepted to UC Santa Barbara, Matt’s first choice. He wants to begin at your college and transfer to UCSB as soon as possible. Matt is not sure he wants to be a full-time student, but is anxious to complete and transfer. He is considering working to earn money to attend UCSB. He has a 3.8 cumulative HS GPA
Karen

26. Student B
Isabella is an 18-year-old HS graduate. She is also a first-generation AB 540 (DREAMer) Latina student.
Isabella has chosen Business Administration as a major. Isabella wishes she could be a full-time student and is eager to complete her degree. Her 11th grade HS GPA is 2.5. She feels she has the support of her family. Since Isabella is the eldest child (of three), she carries the responsibility of setting the bar for her siblings while making a financial contribution to her household. She will be attending your college part-time and taking 6 units or 2 classes each semester.
Ginni

27. Student C Daisy is a 25-year-old Veteran student.
Daisy is a Filipina student who had a HS GPA of 3.2. She has identified her major as Fire Technology, but is not sure she is dedicated to this major. She thinks she wants to get her general education done while she decides. While serving in the military, Daisy endured an injury and now is partially deaf in one ear.
Karen

28. Student D Tiffany is a 35-year-old re-entry student.
Tiffany is a Hispanic first-generation student. Tiffany completed HS with a GPA of 1.95 and was attending college but decided to discontinue attending when she became pregnant. Tiffany has made the decision to return to school after a five-year gap. She wants to major in Early Childhood Education. Tiffany left in the middle of her first term and did not properly withdraw from her courses. As a result, she is now on academic probation and has financial aid restrictions. Tiffany is struggling with the decision to return. As a single parent, she wants to advance her degree but struggles with the feasibility of her goals.
Ginni

29. placement of students outside of default

30. Guided or Directed Self Placement
An allowed placement option for students who have incomplete or no transcript data.
Students are asked a series of questions and/or presented with sample materials and courses are recommended based on answers.
The questions may be about the students perceptions of their abilities for a particular subject and their previous work as a student.
Students may choose to enroll in classes other than those recommended or the college could direct the student to a particular course based on their responses.
Colleges implementing guided self placement have not seen a significant change in success rates.
Ginni

31. Scenario Questions
For each of the following student cases, think about how you would answer the following questions.
Is there any other information you would like to know before placing this student?
What English class would you place this student into?
Would you require this student to participate in concurrent support for English?
What math class would you place the student into?
Would you require the student to participate in concurrent support for their math course?
Ginni

32. Student E
Theo is an African-American, 21-year-old, first-time student.
Theo opted to go into the workforce and dropped out of high school with a 1.75 GPA. He completed a GED. Theo was hired by one of the local petroleum companies; he made a decent income and worked with the company for three years. He was recently laid off and he wants to come back and earn several certificates in Automotive Technology to transition back into the workforce as quickly as possible. He is looking for other employment opportunities and is only able to commit to a part-time schedule.
Ginni

33. Student F
May is an 18 -year-old international student attending college for the first time
May has very strong written English skills and is excellent in Math. She wants to double-major in Psychology and Biology and then transfer to a CSU for a bachelor’s degree. As an international student, she does not have HS GPA data.
Karen

34. Concurrent support

35. Concurrent Support
The initial guidance from the Chancellor’s Office mentions offering and possibly requiring students to participate in some form of concurrent support.
There are several different types of concurrent support that colleges could offer to students. These include:
Redesigned Credit Course
Corequisite Credit Course (lecture or lab)
Corequisite Noncredit Course
Increased Access to Learning Centers
Embedded Tutoring
Supplemental Instruction
Writing Centers/Math Labs
Directed Learning Activities
Karen

36. Be Cognizant of the Unit Load
Many colleges adopting the corequisite model typically have
5 – 6 units for an English Composition course w/corequisite
6 – 9 units for a mathematics course w/corequisite.
Consider part-time students who only take 3-4 units each semester and what options will work for them?
Consider Financial Aid – students must pass 66% of their courses or they are put on warning and second semester denied financial aid at that college forever.
*8 units is 66.7% of a typical 12 unit load
Failure is warning and loss of Financial Aid
Karen

37. Tutoring Models Drop-in Embedded tutoring Complications:
Most common model in most colleges
Free to student; does not require additional units
Embedded tutoring
Tutor is embedded in the classroom; meets with instructor, supports all students in the class
Some models have tutors meeting individually or in small groups outside of class
Free, no obligation to student
Creates a community of practice
Complications:
Currently restricted to basic skills, but the Chancellor’s Office is working to change restrictions to allow students to self select and to allow tutoring for any courses related to AB 705.
Ginni

38. Supplemental Instruction Models
Many colleges have implemented supplemental Instruction (SI) in the past.
SI typically involves SI leaders (usually former students) that attend course lectures and offer option SI sessions to cover topics from lecture.
SI sessions are usually not mandatory.
Colleges normally have to fund SI, which sometimes limits availability. Colleges are permitted to use SEA Program funds for SI related to AB 705 implementation.
Ginni

39. Success Lab Lab with specific warm-up drills and content area review.
Staffed by faculty, instructional assistants, and/or student aids.
Students are typically directed by faculty, but some colleges allow students to self select.
Directed Learning Assignments/Activities (DLA) represent the required or optional assignments linked to specific outcomes, assigned students.
DLAs are created by faculty members to cover specific topics that students typically struggle to master.
DLAs typically include additional guidance about the topic and an assignment that provides the student with additional practice.
This support system allows (but also requires) diagnostic specificity so as not to repeat an entire course, but rather a topic, until it is successfully learned.
Ginni

40. summary

41. Remember These Are Our Students
Many students will fit into the default placement rules and thrive, but those rules will not work for all of the students at your college.
Colleges need to be prepared to place every student into the class that is “best” for the student.
Placement tests didn’t always get it right and AB 705 is intended to help us do better. The scenarios we discussed are the types of situations counselors will be facing this spring.
Running your models through these kinds of scenarios can help you identify gaps before they negatively impact students.
Ginni

42. Next Steps
AB 1805 (signed into law) requires all colleges to report placement results and “prominently” feature placement policies (includes number of students assessed, placed into transfer level, provided support, etc.)
AB 705 Implementation Survey (was due October 23!)
AB 705 Data Revision Project (CB 21 Revision)
Karen

43. Additional questions or issues?