BILL NUMBER: AB 770INTRODUCED 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.