Basic Skills and English as a Second Language (ESL)
The Chancellor's Office sub-unit responsible for Credit and Noncredit Basic Skills and English as a Second Language (ESL) and provides State Leadership activities for the colleges, including, technical assistance; program evaluation; faculty/staff development; research and identification of emerging issues; advocacy; and special project funding and monitoring. The sub-unit also answers requests for information on community college Basic Skills and ESL activities from the public, lawmakers, the media and other interested parties.
Dr. Barbara Illowsky, a mathematics instructor at DeAnza College on reassignment to the Chancellor's Office, is the lead staff for the sub-unit. In addition to providing overall coordination of sub-unit activities, this web page provides a forum for discussion and dissemination of research findings and other information on the public value of Basic Skills and ESL instruction and on resource needs and policy issues related to serving underprepared students in the California Community Colleges.
Strategic Goals for Basic Skills and ESL:
- To maximize the effectiveness and efficient utilization of the system's Basic Skills and ESL resources.
- To identify, promote, and disseminate information on exemplary programs and effective practices in serving academically underprepared community college students, to achieve program improvements through their replication and adaptation to the unique characteristics of individual community colleges/districts.
- To recognize and inform the public about the system's achievement on the basic skills mission and on how that contributes to the availability of outcome data on post-secondary and/or employment goals attained by students who were academically under-prepared when they entered community colleges.
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