The Impact of Excused Withdrawals on Throughput, with a Focus on Transfer-Level Math. AB 705 Implementation Report

The COVID-19 pandemic required that virtually all in-person instruction move suddenly to an online format. Given the unprecedented nature of this disruption, the California Community Colleges (CCC) issued an emergency regulation allowing all students to drop spring 2020 courses without incurring a w...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inRP Group
Main Authors Hayward, Craig, Newell, Mallory
Format Report
LanguageEnglish
Published RP Group 01.11.2022
Subjects
Academic Failure
Calculus
College Credits
College Transfer Students
Community Colleges
COVID-19
Decision Making
Educational Change
Educational Policy
Equal Education
Mathematics Achievement
Mathematics Education
Online Courses
Outcomes of Education
Pandemics
Statistics Education
Student Placement
Trend Analysis
Two Year College Students
Withdrawal (Education)
California
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Summary:The COVID-19 pandemic required that virtually all in-person instruction move suddenly to an online format. Given the unprecedented nature of this disruption, the California Community Colleges (CCC) issued an emergency regulation allowing all students to drop spring 2020 courses without incurring a withdrawal or "W" notation on their transcripts. Instead, they received an Excused Withdrawal or "EW" notation, which shields students from possible negative repercussions of a W notation on their transcript. The EW is not factored into academic progress calculations, and it is treated as if the student never enrolled in the course. However, an EW still indicates an unsuccessful attempt to complete a class, and a student who receives this notation will need to retake the course in a future term, if the course is required to fulfill their educational goal. The Multiple Measures Assessment Project (MMAP) historically included EW notations as indicators of non-successful course attempts in the calculation of throughput and course success in our research papers, within the California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office (CCCCO) Gateway Completion Transfer-Level Dashboard, 2 and AB 705 compliance reporting templates. Given this changing context, MMAP examined how including or excluding EWs impacted the calculations of students' throughput in transfer-level English and math courses. Further, some educators are concerned about how this policy shift will specifically influence the proportion of students receiving an EW in a transfer-level math course, and how students' increased use of EWs may affect success and throughput rates within math pathways. In turn, the authors additionally examined the distribution of non-passing grades of students in their first gateway math course over time to shed light on the emerging impact of EWs on math throughput. This report summarizes these results for system-level leaders and college educators to support decision-making about equitable placement and completion in the CCC system.