May 31, 2024

Meeting Notes for May 31, 2024

Attendees: Casie Wheat, Fatemeh Yarahmadi, Felisa Vilaubi, Lisa Ly, Lydia Hearn, Mehrdad Khosravi, Patty Guitron, Thomas Ray, Zach Judson

July AB 1705 STEM Report

The CCCCO and RP Group’s conducted an analysis to support college’s AB 1705 validation of their placement policies and enrollment practices for the STEM Calculus pathway. The findings and its report, “AB 1705 STEM Calculus Pathway Placement and First Math Course Enrollment Analysis” was provided to De Anza and determined that the college’s preparatory course, Precalculus in the STEM Calculus pathway was not compliant with AB 1705 standards.

In response and as required by the report, the college submitted its AB 1705 certification form for the creation of an innovative course that would be offered starting in Fall 2025. An innovative preparatory course is no more than 4-units with no more than 2-units of concurrent support. This course will be offered during the two-year innovation period (Fall 2025-Spring 2027). An innovative course will undergo additional validation by July 1, 2027, and must achieve full validation status in order to continue as a placement and enrollment option beyond July 1, 2027.

Discussions around AB 1705 centered on the following topics:

• Whether the college could still offer Precalculus to non-STEM majors
• Concerns regarding the CCCCO/RP Group’s analysis as it compared students in the lowest STEM placement to all students (i.e., those with higher placements)
• Concerns regarding time and effort in creating an innovative course that could be discontinued after July 2027
• Need to examine Math outcomes beyond throughput such as course success rates and equity gaps post AB 705; an analysis that was done by IRP for EWRT 1A which found overall EWRT 1A success rate dipped, equity gaps widened for students of color in the standalone course versus the bundle, and shifts in overall EWRT 1A student demographics with higher proportions of first-time college and students of color enrolled
• Need for professional development for increasing application of high-impact practices; need to increase awareness of support and resources for faculty and students
• Students need time to learn Math, like any other subject, to be successful; students also have other commitments/demands that compete for their time
• Consider Math scheduling as classes offerings include meeting 2x or 4x per week whereas it was primarily 4x per week prior to COVID; the implication is that when a student enrolls in a course that meets 2x per week and misses one class, they essentially missed half a week of instruction

Department Updates

Assessment still needs to meet with online education and math department to ensure Guided Self-Placement (GSP) assessments are accessible online

Miscellaneous

The next AB 705/1705 Work Group meeting will be scheduled for Fall 2024