NLA Info: Higher Ed Act and ESL

[Fran Keenan]

[Cross-posted from NIFL-ESL by David J. Rosen, NLA List Moderator]

I thought subscribers to this list might be interested in the
following information I received Friday from the American Association
of Community Colleges (AACC). 

Fran Keenan 
<fran at cal.org>

--------------------------

The AACC strongly opposes the ESL provisions in S. 1882, the"Higher
Education Act Amendments of 1998."  These provisions were proposed by
the Clinton Administration and apply to
Pell Grants only. They are not included in the House Higher
Education Act (HEA) reauthorization bill, H.R. 6.  

New language in Section 401(c)(2)(B) of the HEA (amended by
S.1882):

"(i) A student may receive a basic [Pell] grant to attend
English language instruction that is a separate course of instruction
only if--
(I) students enrolled in such a course are required to take an
independently administered standardized test of English language
proficiency upon completion of the course; and
(II) not less than a minimum percentage of such students achieve a
passing score on that test.
(ii)   The Secretary shall promulgate regulations that specify 1 or
more standardized tests of English proficiency, the minimum
percentage of students who must achieve a passing score on the tests,
and such other requirements as the Secreatry determines are necessary
to implement clause
(i)."

AACC opposes this policy for the following reasons:

1)  Its effects cannot be predicted--by being able to select the
exam(s) to be used to test students as well as the passing score,
etc., the Secretary of Education is given unprecedented authority to
determine which stand-alone ESL programs will continue to remain
eligible for Pell Grants.  Also, it is unclear how this provision
would operate--e.g., when the tests would be administered, how long
the eligibility (or lack thereof) would apply, etc.

2)  Related to point #1, judgments about program quality should
continue to be made through the accreditation process. This provision
represents an historic break from reliance upon accreditation as the
arbiter of institutional/program quality.  Under this policy, all
programs at accredited instituitons except for stand-alone
ESL ones would continue to be deemed to be of acceptable academic
quality.  

3) Title IV eligibility for any and all progams should not be
contingent upon individuals' test performance.  The logical outgrowth
of the ESL policy embedded in S. 1882 is to require all students to be
tested at the conclusion of their studies and for their institution's
Title IV eligibility to be linked to that performance.

Assuming this language stays in S. 1882, AACC will work to have it
eliminated in the eventual conference on the HEA reauthorization. 
However, we have asked some of our members to contact Senators about
it now, especially those on the Labor and Human Resources Committee. 

For more information about the AACC, visit their webpage at 
http://wwwaacc.nche.edu.


Fran Keenan
National Clearinghouse for ESL Literacy Education (NCLE) fran at cal.org
************************************
Visit NCLE's homepage at http://www.cal.org/ncle and download free
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