[AAACE-NLA] NEW CAAL ESL REPORT RELEASED

[Gail Spangenberg]

New York, NY (February 26, 2007) -- The Council for Advancement of  
Adult Literacy today released PASSING THE TORCH: Strategies for  
Innovation in Community College ESL. This 153-page report is the  
result of two years of intensive work by a research team from the  
five colleges studied in the project, who worked closely with by the  
study and research directors, Dr. Forrest P. Chisman of CAAL and Dr.  
JoAnn Crandall of the University of Maryland (Baltimore County). Drs.  
Chisman and Crandall bring vast prior ESL experience to the study.  
The highly textured report contains extensive descriptions of  
exemplary ESL programs and practices in use at five institutions (all  
nominated by a national cadre of their peers):  Bunker Hill Community  
College (Charlestown, MA), City College of San Francisco (San  
Francisco, CA), College of Lake County (Grayslake, IL), Seminole  
Community College (Sanford, FL), and Yakima Valley Community College  
(Yakima, WA).

Primary funding for the project came from The William and Flora  
Hewlett Foundation. Supplemental support was given by the Ford  
Foundation, The McGraw-Hill Companies, the Dollar General  
Corporation, and Harold W. McGraw, Jr.

The study examines a rich variety of innovative and successful  
programs and strategies in use in the institutions, with a focus on  
non-credit ESL services. It concentrates on generating learning  
gains, retaining students, and bringing about transitions to future  
education. The report is for written for both designers of community  
college ESL service and policymakers and private funders. Among the  
effective strategies looked at are high intensity instruction,  
learning outside the classroom, and the use of "learner-centered  
thematic" curricular. Special attention is given to curricular  
integration, co-enrollment, vocational ESL (VESL) programs, and the  
Spanish GED. Issues of faculty training, development, and quality are  
examined, and recommendations are given for 'engineering innovation'  
in ESL colleges and programs. A main section of the report deals with  
costs and funding issues, and calls for substantially greater and  
more targeted funding for adult ESL.

A standalone Executive Summary of the report is attached.  The full  
report (a very large document) is available at the CAAL website. It  
will be easily accessible to persons with a high speed Internet  
connection. The report is also available at cost ($20 plus postage,  
prepaid) by regular mail directly from CAAL (bheitner at caalusa.org).  
Multiple copies (10 or more) will be eligible for a discount.





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