While students at both four-year institutions and community colleges enroll in remedial coursework, policymakers look to community colleges to be the main, if not sole, providers of basic skills education. Policy makers argue that community colleges are the most cost-efficient and appropriate places to provide this instruction (Bettinger & Long, 2005). As states continue to move towards concentrating basic skills courses in their community college systems, the number of community college students who will require at least some remediation is expected to increase (Moss & Yeaton, 2006). Research on community college students indicates that low-income, Latino, Native American, African American, and undocumented students lag behind their White, Asian, and more affluent peers in entering, persisting, and completing many community college programs (Dougherty & Keinzl, 2006; Horn & Nevill, 2006; Leinbach & Bailey, 2006). As a result, basic skills education in such states as California is especially important for helping underprivileged, low-income, and minority students catch up, or reduce the achievement gap. In the context of this basic skills dilemma, we sought to identify and understand educational practices that help students progress through basic skills coursework with a particular emphasis on practices that show promise to close the achievement gap. This examination of a California community college basic skills program identifies those educational practices, as well as the players, that contribute to student attainment and to the closing of the achievement gap. (Contains 3 tables.)