Every year, tens of thousands of English Learners (ELs) with a range of goals, citizenship statuses, and educational backgrounds enroll in English as a second language (ESL) coursework at the one of 115 California Community Colleges. These institutions began implementing Assembly Bill 705 reforms for credit English as a Second Language in fall 2021, two years after implementing similar reforms in English and math. With a broad goal of improving success and equity for students pursuing degrees and transfers to four-year colleges, AB 705 reforms are already making notable transformations to ESL placement policies and the ESL courses into which English Learners (ELs) are placed.
This report from the Public Policy Institute of California examines the progress colleges have made in implementing AB 705 in ESL across the community college system. Among the report’s findings:
- Colleges implemented AB 705 reforms to ESL despite the challenges created by COVID-19. By fall 2021, many colleges had moved away from standardized placement tests (30%) and toward guided placement (79%), engaging students more actively in the placement process.
- Colleges have made great strides in shortening their ESL course sequences. In 2021, over half of colleges offered sequences of four levels or less, compared to just under one-third in 2016. AB 705 distinguishes ESL from remediation in English; this recognition that ESL students are foreign-language learners seeking proficiency in an additional language has allowed for growth in transferrable ESL courses for general education credit, including ESL equivalents of college composition.
- Variation across colleges in placement policies and ESL sequences could potentially undercut equitable access and success—it means that an English Learner’s likelihood of enrolling in or completing college composition may depend on which college that EL attends.