Embracing Change: How Legislative Reforms Transformed Math Education at Cuyamaca College

I have worked at Cuyamaca College for 27 years, first as a math faculty, then as the Math Department Chair, and most recently as Dean of Math, Science and Engineering. I am deeply committed to the community college mission and to equity – and, like many people and most academics, I don’t like being told what to do. Particularly, not by legislators who are far removed from my world in the community college and in math. But Assembly Bills 705 (Irwin 2017) and 1705 (Irwin 2022) have transformed my world for the better and benefited students in ways that were unimaginable 10 years ago. 

These laws set standards that hold community colleges accountable for ensuring that our programs give students the best chance of completing their math requirements.

Community college math professors that argue for maintaining old approaches in the name of equity and opportunity are not following the data. Between 2015-2016 and 2021-2022, legislatively mandated reforms doubled the number of community college Black and Hispanic students passing transferable, college math courses that count at the CSU and UC–and students did it within a year of taking their first math class. These large gains were achieved by veterans, disabled students, foster youth, students receiving financial assistance, non-traditional age students, as well as students with low high school GPAs. (The data is available on the state Chancellor’s dashboard and in many studies by The RPGroup and PPIC.) 

At my college, one-year transfer-level math completion jumped from 28% to 62% for Hispanic students and from 21% to 70% for Black students during this timeframe. 

How did my college and community colleges statewide achieve such astounding results? 

These laws stopped us from sidelining students into preparatory courses, unless this improved students’ odds of completing math requirements. Which it didn’t. Research at the state and local level consistently showed high rates of attrition in remedial course sequences, and more recently in preparatory course sequences prior to calculus. With these laws, students start in math that satisfies requirements for their program of study and they get concurrent, targeted academic support. 

My college was a leader in the implementation of math pathways that gave students direct access to transfer-level math courses with concurrent support. Now we are one of the colleges leading the way in calculus pathway redesign. 

Last year, we opened the door to calculus for STEM students who had never had precalculus. The caveat– they had to also enroll in a two-unit support course. This gave them additional time with their professors who provided just-in-time instruction on math skills needed for learning calculus.

Nearly 70% passed the calculus course, a pass rate that was higher and more equitable across racial demographics than the pass rate for the traditional sections of calculus. And all calculus instructors, both in the supported and traditional sections, taught to the same learning goals, covered the same content, and used the same curricula that included a common set of assessments.

Compare this to the progress of STEM students with the same level of math preparation who began in our precalculus course. Only 30% completed calculus in a year. The longer trek deterred many, even those successful in precalculus, from continuing. As a result, we lost STEM majors. 

With this redesign, enrollments in the STEM calculus sequence grew. We had an 83% increase in the number of students taking calculus as their first math course compared to the previous fall, and a 67% increase in our sections of Calculus 2 the next semester. This coming fall semester we plan to double the sections of Calculus 3. The future holds promise for a larger and more diverse STEM transfer program at Cuyamaca College because of these changes.

So veterans, single moms, students who are coming to college after a hiatus from school, and everyone else, WE WELCOME YOU! And what is more, our community college system will ensure that you start on a path in math that gives you the best odds of completing math for your program. For students pursuing a STEM degree, math departments are now streamlining pathways to calculus to improve your likelihood of progress. And our colleges will provide effective support while you are enrolled in math courses that count toward your degree. That is our system’s commitment to you–and it is the law.