After the passing of AB 705, math departments in community colleges in CA had to rethink their class offerings and placement completely. Learn how a state bill & collaboration resulted in complete redesign at LA Pierce College.

1. FROM 0 TO 100,
OR HOW
COLL ABORATION
& A STATE BILL
RESULT IN
REDESIGN!
S A M P E A R S A L L & E D D I E
TC H E R TC H I A N
L O S A N G E L E S P I E R C E
C O L L E G E
A M AT Y C 2 0 1 9
M I L WA U K E E , W N

2. WHAT IS CA AB 705?
• Signed on October 13, 2017
(took effect on January 1, 2018)
• Requires colleges maximize the
probability that a student will
enter and complete transfer-
level coursework in English and
math within a one-year
timeframe.
• New criteria for placement in
math and English: high school
coursework, high school grades,
and high school grade point

3. THE INTENT
“AB 705 was written to ensure that
students are not placed into remedial
courses that may delay or deter their
educational progress unless evidence
suggests they are highly unlikely to
succeed in the college-level course.
Assessment instruments and
placement policies have serious
implications for equity, as students
color are far more likely to be
into remedial courses; students
placed into remediation are much
less likely to reach their educational

4. “Evidence suggests that community
colleges are placing too
many students into remediation
and that significantly more students
would complete transfer
requirements in math and English if
enrolled directly in transfer-level
English and math courses. Research
suggests that when used as the
primary criterion for placement,
assessment tests tend to under-
place students; and a student’s high
school performance is a much
stronger predictor of success in
transfer-level courses rather than
standardized placement tests.”

8. WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE!
• Welcome to being chair… Here’s
AB 705!
• Changes on campus
• In department: 13 full-time
faculty (out of 23 total) hired
within the last six years
• “In the midst of chaos, there is
also opportunity.” – Sun Tzu

9. COLLABORATION • Collaboration is the
name of the game:
15-person AB 705
team!
• Involve tutor leaders
• Met every other week
in Fall 2018
• Held two retreats
• Reviewed data,
sequence options,
and attended district

10. STUDENT SUCCESS FOCUS
• We took the opportunity to
review some good student
success practices based
around collaboration:
– Use of common materials – a
big one!
– Common pacing guide
– Common final exam and
common progress exams for
some
– Common office hours for
students

11. A REVAMPED TUTORING PROGRAM
• More general tutors
• Tutor-on-Demand (TOD)
program
• Stat City & Stat Spot

12. SUPPORTING CHARACTERS
• We did not go at it alone!
–Work with counseling & other bodies
on campus to support students
–Continue relationship with CAS & use
of tutors
–Offer guidance and support via pre-
semester review workshops
–Revisit our Summer Bridge offerings
–Create faculty- and tutor-led
workshops (and handouts) to help

13. REDESIGN
• No more math placement test
• Non-BSTEM: all students eligible
for Introductory Statistics or
Statway BSTEM: students in top two
tiers eligible for Trig, Business
Calculus, Math for Elementary
School Teachers
• BSTEM: students in Tier 3 to take an
algebra course (Math 134) one

14. REMAINING PLANS
•New courses: 1)
Fundamentals of Math
(combo of pre-algebra
and elementary algebra
topics); 2) Finite Math
(non-BSTEM);
•Revisit class units/hours
•Align with district

15. THROUGH IT ALL…
• Take input from everyone
• Disagreement is OK!
• Create a spirit of community –
we are all in this together!
• Refocus the conversation every
time – we are doing this for our
students and kids!

16. Q & A
• How are students being
“assigned” or placed
into their math course?
What is the process?
Where is the data
coming from?
• ANSWER: The data is
currently self-reported
and obtained when
students register
through questions they
answer!

17. Q & A
• How are counselors helping
students choose between
STEM and Liberal Arts Math
and when should this
conversation happen?
• ANSWER: Tricky. Students
identify as STEM or SLAM
during registration – be aware
of this as it determines their
placement! Utilize “what I can
do with a math degree” flyer,
and focus on careers in STEM
vs. SLAM, talk about
background, courses,

18. Q & A
• How are (continuing)
students being placed?
• ANSWER: Continuing
students will have an
opportunity to be placed
into the course sequence
using the new placement
rules, whether they
already have a math
placement or not. The
district is putting
together a webpage to
inform students of their
rights to fulfill
compliance requirements

19. Q & A
• Q: How will courses that
have Math and English
prerequisites be effected
(for example: Econ classes
have an elementary
algebra prereq)?
• Answer: students
automatically qualify to
take Econ because
they’ve met math
competency. Same for all
other cases where a dev
math or dev English
course is a pre-req.

20. Q & A
• How do we counsel students who
indicate that they want to take
classes below transfer level?
• ANSWER: Let students choose, but
make them aware of all their options
so they make a well-informed
decision. Focus on pointing out
curriculum and building knowledge
in the subject instead of length of
sequence and number of units.

21. Q & A
• How do we support
students that may not
have an available high
school transcript within
the past 10 years?
• ANSWER: Guided self-
placement tool! Talk to
an advisor!

22. Eddie Tchertchian, math
department chair, LA
Pierce College, AMATYC
West VP (starting Jan 1,
2020) –
tchertea@piercecollege.ed
u
Sam Pearsall, math faculty,
LA Pierce College –
pearsasa@piercecollege.e
du