To prevent student placement into remedial English and mathematics courses that may delay or deter their educational progress, Assembly Bill 705 mandates that California community colleges incorporate additional data points when determining placement recommendations.
Per AB 705, every college is required to maximize the probability that a student will enter and complete transfer-level English and math coursework within a one year timeframe. New course recommendations will incorporate data about students’ high school coursework, grades, and grade point average. High school English and math performance are often stronger predictors of collegiate course success than previously used metrics.
Prior assessments and policies were often unreliable, classifying more than two-thirds of new students as unprepared for college-level English and math coursework. That remedial classification resulted in fewer students achieving their educational goals – particularly students of color.
“The research is overwhelmingly clear in showing how low-income and minority students are significantly more likely to be wrongly placed in remedial classes, creating a chain of events that contribute to stubborn equity gaps,” said Chancellor Eloy Ortiz Oakley. “These changes constitute a major step toward meeting the commitments and goals set forth in the California Community Colleges Vision for Success.”
Multiple Measures Placement Service Data Delivery
In collaboration with the Board of Governors, statewide advisory committees, and technical workgroups, the Chancellor’s Office has been implementing policies, rulesets, data acquisition agreements, and data integration pipelines to deliver multiple measures placement recommendations to the colleges. Known as the Multiple Measures Placement Service (MMPS), far more comprehensive data are now being run through rules engines than ever before. The proposed English and math placement recommendations are combined with MMPS data delivery and being routed to the colleges.
A collection of students’ verified high school transcript data now comes from multiple sources, including:
- California College Guidance Initiative (CCGI)
- Cal-PASS Plus
- California Department of Education
- Self reported transcript information via CCCApply.
According to Dr. Omid Pourzanjani, Visiting Senior Executive, Digital Futures Lab, “MMPS provides colleges with all the relevant data for English and math placement while honoring the autonomy of each college to determine final recommendation policies and processes for their students.”
MMPS is not only a placement service tool, but it is pivotal to AB 705 evaluation because it provides as much evidence as possible for the recommendation process. After students finish a course, related course data are routed back to the Chancellor’s Office to determine the efficacy of those course recommendations.
MMPS is currently being piloted at Monterey Peninsula College, College of the Redwoods, Chaffey College, Sierra College, and Mira Costa College. Six additional colleges are working through integration tasks to begin the piloting. Results from the early adopter colleges of AB 705-related Multiple Measures practices have shown significant student success increases in both English and math. Once initial piloting efforts are complete, MMPS will aid in the adoption of the new Multiple Measures practices for all colleges.
AB 705 requires the California Community College system be compliant to new course recommendation changes no later than fall 2019 for non-ESL students. With the execution of an unprecedented data sharing agreement between the California Community Colleges and the California Department of Education, MMPS is now available for use by colleges.
Learn more about AB 705 in the Vision Resource Center module, “Corequisite Support in California’s Community Colleges.” To configure this additional data delivery to your college, please contact crms@ccctechcenter.org.