While data on enrollment, performance, persistence, and completion can offer directional information about access and success for different student groups, they do not provide the "why" behind these measures. Asking students directly about their experiences at the institution can help with a more comprehensive understanding of how to…

With the implementation of AB 705 in fall 2019, California Community Colleges began to transition to a majority of students' first English and math enrollment starting at transfer level. Research has shown that with the vast increase in access to transfer-level courses, the one-year completion rate of a transfer-level course (i.e., throughput)…

Meta-majors refer to the creation of broad program pathways or areas of interest, such as "Allied Health or Business." They are key components of the Guided Pathways efforts that provide students with a more structured and integrated academic experience. There are several different approaches (e.g., sorting exercises) colleges can use to…

Implementation of AB 705 in fall 2019 required California community colleges to use high school grade point average (HSGPA) as the main measure of placement and maximize the likelihood of students being placed into transfer-level English and math courses. Since that time, research has shown that with the vast increase in access to transfer-level…

The term "throughput" refers to the percentage of a student cohort who complete a course sequence within a set period after having begun that sequence at the same point in time. Under AB 705 the set period for observing throughput rates is described in law as "one year". While that time frame seems intuitive enough, the…

The California Community Colleges (CCC) began implementation of AB 705 in fall 2018, ensuring that most students started in transfer-level math rather than a developmental education sequence. The RP Group's Multiple Measures Assessment Project (MMAP) has found that for all student groups, dramatically increasing access to transfer-level math…

Over the past five years, the RP Group's "Through the Gate" transfer study has developed a deeper understanding of how California Community College (CCC) students experience transfer pathways. Specifically, the study focused on increasing transfer for "high-leverage" students: those who had completed all or most of the…

As of fall 2019, the California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office required all California community colleges (CCC) to be in compliance with Assembly Bill 705 (AB 705). CCC were required to implement multiple measures placement policies for math and English that would maximize the likelihood that students with an educational goal of degree or…

This document provides ideas for collaboration between English, Math, and credit ESL faculty and institutional research, planning, and effectiveness (IRPE) professionals in the California Community Colleges to examine local impacts of AB 705. The ideas from this document were generated and collated from regional workshops and events hosted by the…

With support from the California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office (CCCCO), Educational Services Division, the Research and Planning Group (RP Group) conducted a mixed-methods analysis of noncredit English Language Learners' (ELL) transition to credit courses, such as transfer-level English (TLE), to inform the work of a statewide committee…

In 2016, the Research and Planning Group for California Community Colleges (RP Group) launched the "Through the Gate" transfer study, aimed to identify strategies for increasing transfer among "high-leverage learners" in the California Community Colleges (CCC)--individuals who have completed all or most of their transfer…

With the recent implementation of Assembly Bill (AB) 705, assessment and placement practices for math and English have taken center stage in many California Community Colleges. However, it is just as important to develop an understanding of how best to assess and place English language learner (ELL) students as well. In February 2019, the Research…

The COVID-19 pandemic required that virtually all in-person instruction move suddenly to an online format. Given the unprecedented nature of this disruption, the California Community Colleges (CCC) issued an emergency regulation allowing all students to drop spring 2020 courses without incurring a withdrawal or "W" notation on their…

There is documented need for California to produce more bachelor's degree holders. Broad agreement exists that increasing community college transfer is an essential strategy for achieving this critical goal, while at the same time closing equity gaps and promoting mobility for residents of a state plagued with the nation's highest cost of living.…

In 2016, the Research and Planning Group for California Community Colleges (RP Group) launched a two-part transfer study called "Through the Gate" to take a fresh look at addressing California's transfer challenges. When a more nuanced look at this population is taken, a "transfer continuum" emerges, revealing students at…