How Testing and Placement Policies Affect Language Minority Students in CA Community Colleges

Community colleges represent the first point of access to public higher education for many language-minority students who have attended California high schools.

Yet these students face a number of language-related challenges that present potential barriers to completing their academic goals. Meanwhile, community colleges struggle to meet the needs of these “Generation 1.5” students, who do not fit the linguistic profiles of monolingual English-speakers in developmental English courses nor of more recent immigrants and international students in ESL programs.

In this seminar George Bunch presents his recent research, Mapping the Terrain: Language Testing and Placement for US-Educated Language Minority Students in California's Community Colleges, and the impact of language testing and placement policies and practices at 25 California community colleges, and discusses implications for policy at the state, system, and college levels.

Speakers:

• George Bunch, Assistant Professor of Education, University of California, Santa Cruz

Moderated by David N. Plank, Executive Director, PACE