EdSource's 2012 brief, Passing When It Counts, presents data on the success of California community college students in passing mathematics courses that count toward an associate degree.

To succeed in a math course that counts toward an associate degree, a community college student must:

• Remain in the course until the end of the term—in other words, not drop or withdraw early. (Withdrawing from a course does not necessarily mean a student was likely to fail it, or that the student might not pass it on a later attempt.)
• Receive a passing grade, in the form of passing credit (if enrolled on a pass/ fail basis) or a grade of “C” or higher.

In fall 2010, 55% of all enrollments in these math courses resulted in the student passing the course, as the flow chart below illustrates.

Notes: The data above are limited to courses coded as “Credit—Degree Applicable” and “Mathematics, General (1701).” Enrollment totals are rounded to the nearest 100. Comparable data for math courses that do not count toward an associate degree are provided at EdSource’s website.

The number of students reflects total enrollments. Any student who enrolled in more than one of these math courses during the term would have been counted as more than one enrollment.

* The state-reported “retention rate.”
† The state-reported “success rate.”

Data: California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office Data Mart, accessed July 2011.

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