There has recently been considerable debate about the question of offering AA degree credit for ESL courses in the California Community Colleges. Different campuses have different policies, and the Chancellor's office has not been able to offer a definitive answer. The following is a response from the current President of the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges, Bill Scroggins, to a request for clarification on this issue. His response is reprinted with his permission.
Date: February 1, 1999 The Academic Senate for California Community Colleges recognizes English as a Second Language (ESL) courses as eligible for AA degree credit providing that they meet the standards of Title 5 Section 55002(a) as determined by your curriculum committee. ESL is a separate discipline from English and Title 5 Section 55805.5(c), which limits AA credit to English courses no more than one level below English 1A, does not apply. Rather than applying such narrow limitations, Title 5 Section 55805.5(e) allows each college to make the determination, in the case of English taught in other disciplines such as ESL, that the level of rigor and content is equivalent to that in AA degree credit courses in the discipline of English. In other words, it is the content and rigor of each ESL course which should determine credit status, not the hierarchy of courses leading from ESL into English. There are many reasons other than content and rigor that lead colleges to structure their curriculum so that top level ESL courses (with AA credit and transfering to CSU) may lead to a Subject A level course in the English discipline. Students in ESL courses are learning English as a foreign language. Their level of comfort with the language and their degree of aculturation are both factors in determining their readiness to transition to the English series of courses. We encourage you to follow the recommendations of Title 5 and the Academic Senate by determining the level, content, and rigor of ESL courses on their own merits and not by their ranking in a series with English courses. The position as stated in this letter is an official position of the Academic Senate and is widely supported by others, including Vice Chancellor Rita Cepeda and former Curriculum Specialist Nancy Glock-Grueneich as well as the California Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (CATESOL) and the Californis State University system which accepts up to nine units of rigorous ESL instruction. Some to whom you have spoken in the Chancellor's Office may hold the opinion that ESL is transitional instruction, but that opinion is not supported by the language of Title 5. ESL is NOT by definition a remedial or basic skills discipline. As with courses in other disciplines, the AA degree applicability of ESL courses should and must be determined on their own merits, measured by the standards of Title 5 Section 55002(a). Yours Collegially, Bill Scroggins, President Academic Senate for California Community Colleges 910 K Street, Suite 300 Sacramento, CA 95814 916/445-4753 fax: 916/323-9867