California Assembly Passes Remedial-Education Reform Bill
Sara Weissman
May 27, 2022
The California Assembly unanimously passed new legislation on Wednesday to advance reforms to remedial education in the California Community Colleges system.
The legislation, Assembly Bill 1705, builds off a law passed in 2017, which prevented community colleges from requiring remedial English or math courses without first considering students’ high school GPA and coursework and determining they are “highly unlikely to succeed” in classes that earn transferable college credits.
Colleges have lagged in implementing the prior law, Assembly Bill 705, so the new bill stresses that colleges must enroll students in the math and English classes where they have the highest chances of completing transfer requirements. It also prohibits colleges from requiring students to repeat math and English classes passed in high school, among other measures to enroll more students in credit-bearing coursework.