Community college students are often placed in developmental math courses based on the results of a single placement test. However, concerns about accurate placement have recently led states and colleges across the country to consider using other measures to inform placement decisions. While the relationships between college outcomes and such measures as high school GPA, prior math achievement, and noncognitive measures are well-known, there is little research that examines whether using these measures for course placement improves placement decisions. We provide evidence from California, where community colleges are required to use multiple measures, and examine whether this practice increases access and success in college-level courses. Using data from the Los Angeles Community College District, we find that students who were placed into higher-level math due to multiple measures (e.g., GPA and prior math background) performed no differently from their higher scoring peers in terms of passing rates and longterm credit completion. The findings suggest that community colleges can improve placement accuracy in developmental math and increase access to higher-level courses by considering multiple measures of student preparedness in their placement rules.An examination of math assessment and course placement in community colleges shows that many students are deemed unprepared for the demands of college-level work. It is estimated that over 60 % of community college students nationally are placed in at least one postsecondary remedial or developmental course upon entry (Bailey 2009;NCPPHE

Ineligibility for state financial aid has traditionally limited undocumented students’ access to higher education. Since 2013, the California Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act (CA-DREAM) has made state-supported aid available to undocumented college students with demonstrated financial need. We use a difference-in-difference strategy and administrative data to examine the impact of the policy on undocumented community college students’ enrollment behaviors and postsecondary outcomes. The availability of CA-DREAM aid for these students, in the form of enrollment fee waivers, drew in undocumented Hispanic male students, students with lower average incoming high school GPAs, and those who increased their 11th to 12th grade achievement. Receiving DREAM aid significantly increased the average number of units attempted and completed and, in some cases, improved persistence and attainment outcomes. Undocumented students receiving aid achieved at similar levels as U.S. citizen peers receiving aid and better than their undocumented peers not receiving aid.

No abstract

One of the first steps an incoming community college student takes during matriculation is sitting for a placement test in reading, writing, or math. This enables the college to identify the student's preparedness for college-level academics and direct the student toward appropriately leveled coursework. Nationally, about 60% of students are referred to remedial or developmental coursework after this screening process (National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education & Southern Regional Education Board [NCPPHE & SREB], 2010), but this figure is more than 80% in states such as California, which serves about one fifth of all community college students in the country and is the setting for this study (Foundation for California Community Colleges, 2015). A prevailing concern is that the majority of students placed in developmental courses following the assessment and placement process do not progress through course sequences to complete college-level courses or earn postsecondary credentials (Bailey, Jeong, & Cho, 2010;Fong, Melguizo, & Prather, 2015). This has prompted increased attention to policies and practices that can improve remediation outcomes.Changing assessment and placement policy is increasingly being seen as a lever to achieve this goal. Estimates from recent research suggest that placement tests, which are commonly used across the country to assess incoming students, may be mis-assigning nearly a quarter of students in math, with most of these being underplacement errors into remedial math courses that are below student skill levels (Scott-Clayton, Crosta, & Belfield, 2014). It follows that if more accurate placement instruments and measures are used, and used more accurately, then students will be more likely to complete the courses in which they are placed and persist toward their academic goals.Aside from these prediction-based estimates, there are just a handful of studies on how actual 603504E PAXXX10.