State lawmakers are considering a bill that would grant course credit to multilingual community college students for the English courses for the first time.
The Credit for All Language Learning (CALL) Act requires that all non-remedial English courses for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) count towards a students’ associate’s degree. The bill also mandates that all four-year colleges in the state accept those credits in transfers — unless there are unique degree requirements.
Advocates say the CALL Act removes unnecessary educational barriers for multilingual students.
“This is fundamentally about equity, about making sure that the students who often have to overcome the greatest challenges to be successful in school are getting the opportunity to get credit for work that they’re doing, just like everybody else,” said Delegate Jared Solomon, one of the bill’s sponsors.
