Assessment Information
California Education Code 78213 (formerly Assembly Bill or AB 705) took effect January 1, 2018 and requires California Community Colleges to use multiple methods of placing students into transfer-level English, English as a second language (ESL) and math and statistics courses. These methods must include the use of high school cumulative grade point average (HSGPA) and possibly high school courses taken and grades earned. The law also requires that the method that yields the highest placement overrides all other methods. For more information, visit: http://assessment.cccco.edu/.
In response to this law, the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office established “default” (standardized) HSGPA ranges for colleges to use as the basis for placing students into such courses. Colleges may depart from these standardized HSGPA ranges, but they must provide statistical evidence that such departures meet or exceed the standardized targets set by the California Chancellor’s Office, and that students placed into any pre- or corequisite for a transfer-level course are highly unlikely to pass the transfer-level course without it.
When you apply to the Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD) using CCCApply, the information you provide will be evaluated based on the placement criteria in order to assign a placement code: “E” for English/ESL, and “M” for math/statistics. Your assigned code, a description of what it represents and a list of any courses cleared for enrollment will appear on the Assessment tile in your Student Portal.
As a continuing student, when you re-apply to the Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD) using CCCApply, the information you provide will be evaluated based on the placement criteria in order to assign an updated placement code: “E” for English/ESL, and “M” for math/statistics. Your assigned code, a description of what it represents and a list of any courses cleared for enrollment will appear on the Assessment tile in your Student Portal.
If you completed a placement for enrollment prior to summer 2019, you are not required to adhere to its results. This is especially true if you were placed below transfer-level in English or more than one level below-transfer in math or statistics. Instead, you may enroll in any course listed in your new placement message without taking any course below it in the sequence, even if that means skipping several courses that would have been required under the old placement.
When you place into a course that is part of a sequence, you do not need to take any course lower in that sequence, whether such a course is a pre- or corequisite to any course in the same or any other subject, or a prerequisite or requirement for any program.
Here’s one of many possible examples: At some colleges, MATH 115 is listed as a prerequisite for courses like CHEM 065, ECON 001, and MATH 125 and possibly as a major requirement for some certificates. All students who complete placement will place higher in the sequence than MATH 115. Therefore, no student is required to take MATH 115 for any reason—they will have satisfied the MATH 115 pre- or corequisite for all courses that require it, and they will have satisfied the MATH 115 requirement for any award programs that list it. Likewise, in a broader example: Students who place into any transfer-level math course are not required to take any below-transfer-level math course for any reason.
While many majors do not require any math, if you intend to earn an associate of arts/science degree and have not met math competency you will need to do so prior to graduation. If you maintain catalog rights from prior to fall 2019 and have placed into any transfer-level math course, you have met math competency for all AA/AS degrees. If you were admitted in fall 2019 or later, you may meet competency by verifying earning a grade of C- or higher in Algebra 2 or equivalent or higher at a US regionally accredited high school or college, or through other means. See a counselor for details.
Students that have graduated from a foreign high school or those interested in being placed in the credit ESL sequence may email hernang12@taogoods.net to set up a Self-Guided Placement with an ESL faculty member. You will need to have your full name, phone number and LAVC student ID number to be able to test. The ESL department will reach out and set up a time to conduct the Self-Guided Placement with you.