English language proficiency can facilitate social and economic mobility for non-native speakers, and California’s community colleges are key providers of ESL education. Now that a new law is motivating colleges across the state to reexamine their ESL programs, we need a better understanding of ESL students and policies that can help them succeed. PPIC researcher Bonnie Brooks outlines a new report that looks at promising ESL reforms, and Olga Rodriguez moderates a panel discussion of the challenges and benefits of implementing new ESL policies throughout the community college system. The panelists are Alice Perez, vice chancellor of academic affairs in the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office; Melissa Reeve, an English and ESL professor at Solano College; and Kathryn Wada, an ESL professor at Cypress College.
