BILL NUMBER: AB 770	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Irwin

                        FEBRUARY 25, 2015

   An act relating to community colleges.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 770, as introduced, Irwin. Community colleges: basic skills and
innovation strategies.
   Existing law establishes the California Community Colleges, under
the administration of the Board of Governors of the California
Community Colleges, as one of the segments of public postsecondary
education in this state. Existing law authorizes the establishment of
community college districts under the administration of community
college governing boards, and authorizes these districts to provide
instruction at community college campuses throughout the state.
   This bill would declare the intent of the Legislature to enact
legislation to provide more opportunities for campuses of the
California Community Colleges to participate in basic skills
innovation strategies that have demonstrated effectiveness in
improving student success and in increasing the number of
underprepared students who complete college-level English and
mathematics courses.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
   (a) Over 70 percent of students enrolling, for the first time, in
courses offered by campuses of the California Community Colleges are
classified as underprepared for college-level work and in need of
remediation.
   (b) National research has found that, regardless of incoming
preparation levels, the more semesters of remediation students are
required to take, the less likely those students are to complete
college-level English and mathematics courses, which are gateway
courses to most postsecondary degree and credential programs, and for
transfer to four-year postsecondary institutions.
   (c) Research in California has demonstrated that relatively few
students who enter remediation ultimately attain a postsecondary
degree, credential, or transfer to a four-year institution, and that
students of color are disproportionately affected.
   (d) Drawing on national initiatives aimed at increasing student
completion of college-level English and mathematics courses, efforts
in California have demonstrated the success of innovative ways to
deliver English and mathematics remediation.
   (e) In those pilot efforts, students' odds of completing
college-level English courses more than double, and their odds of
completing college-level mathematics courses are more than four times
higher in comparison to students in traditional remediation.
However, at most community college campuses, these new approaches are
offered on a small scale and are not available to most students.
  SEC. 2.  It is the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation
to provide more opportunities for campuses of the California
Community Colleges to participate in basic skills innovation
strategies that have demonstrated effectiveness in improving student
success and increasing the number of underprepared students who
complete college-level English and mathematics courses.