The CATESOL Journal

Between 2012 and 2018, the California Community Colleges system underwent significant changes in policy and practice to address student success rates; this article chronicles policies affecting ESL students and how ESL faculty worked to ensure equitable, appropriate implementation for students enrolled in credit ESL courses. The 2018 California law, AB 705 (Irwin) and its partner bill, AB 1805 (Irwin), changed placement processes; impact was greatest in the disciplines of English and mathematics, which were mandated to primarily use high school information for direct placement into transfer-level course work. Credit ESL students were not included in the original text of either bill. However, advocacy by three community college ESL faculty led to language amendments in both laws on behalf of ESL students. Further advocacy resulted in an ESL subcommittee to ensure that the needs of ESL students would still be met in the implementation of AB 705.