The California Community Colleges (CCC) constitute the key entry point to college for the large majority of Black, Latina/o/x, and Indigenous populations as well as low-income students. As such, it is critical that they provide high-quality instruction along with a robust set of academic and wrap-around supports necessary for the students to fulfill their educational potential and goals. As has been documented nationally, a major roadblock for student success is placement in a long sequence of developmental education math and English courses.

After more than a decade of trying to tackle this problem through basic skills-related initiatives, task forces, and programs, California passed Assembly Bill 705 (AB705) in 2017, arguably one of the most ambitious higher education reforms in community colleges to date. Starting in Fall 2019, 116 colleges throughout the state replaced standardized tests with multiple measures of high school performance to determine college “readiness,” which resulted in most students being placed directly into transfer-level courses. Through these changes in placement, along with curricular and student support reforms, each college is expected to maximize the probability that entering students complete transfer-level English and math courses in one year’s time.

Since 2019, Pullias Center’s Tatiana Melguizo, along with Dr. Federick Ngo (University of Nevada, Las Vegas), Dr. Cheryl Ching (University of Massachusetts Boston), postdoctoral researchers, and doctoral students have continued the USC-LACCD RPP.