CAAL 7/7/2004 Agenda Item 9 July 7 2004

caal ==== 7/7/2004 agenda item 9 july 7, 2004 memorandum ========== to: dr. vermelle j. johnson, chair, and members

CAAL
====
7/7/2004
Agenda Item 9
July 7, 2004
MEMORANDUM
==========
To: Dr. Vermelle J. Johnson, Chair, and Members, Committee on Academic
Affairs and Licensing
From: Dr. Gail M. Morrison, Deputy Director and Director of Academic
Affairs and Licensing
Consideration of Annual Report on Compliance with the English Fluency
Act in Higher Education FY 2003-2004
Background
==========
In 1991 the General Assembly passed the English Fluency in Higher
Education Act. This Act required each public higher education
institution to submit an annual report to the Commission, based upon a
compliance plan that each institution had been required to develop.
Under the law, the Commission was given the responsibility of
developing and implementing policies and procedures consistent with
the General Assembly’s intent to ensure that faculty members at the
public institutions in the State can communicate effectively even when
English is not their first language.
In the language of the Act in Section (C)(2) each institution was
required to submit as part of its compliance plan an assurance that an
adequate procedure exists for students to report grievances concerning
the inability of instructors to be understood in their spoken or
written English. In Section (D)(2), the Act further requires that each
institution must report annually the number of grievances filed by
students under the provisions of (C)(2) and the disposition of those
grievances.
On November 3, 1994, the Commission on Higher Education required that
each institution of public higher education in South Carolina publish
a clear, complete summary of the institution’s policy on English
Fluency in Higher Education either in both the catalog and student
handbook or in the Academic Section and the Student Affairs Section
(for institutions with a unified publication) of the unified
publication on campus policies.
At its meeting on November 2, 1995, the Commission further required
that all institutions must demonstrate for the current reporting year
(i.e., in this case, the period beginning July 1, 2001, and ending
with the conclusion of the Spring Semester 2002) that they are fully
in compliance with the requirements regarding publication of the law’s
provisions in the Catalog and Student Handbook.
Discussion
----------
All institutions of public higher education had submitted their
reports to the Commission on Higher Education by June 4, 2004, for the
recently completed academic year of 2003-2004. The data submitted in
those reports show that all of the State’s 33 public institutions are
fully in compliance with the publication of the required student
information under the law and Commission policy.
Since the passage of the English Fluency Act in Higher Education by
the General Assembly in 1991, the Commission has issued thirteen
annual reports (including the current one) to the chairmen of the
committees in the House and Senate with jurisdiction in educational
matters. In all the previous twelve reports a total of six student
complaints had been received. In the current year’s reports from the
institutions no student grievance was reported at any of the
thirty-three public institutions.
The minimal use of the grievance policy by students throughout the
state suggests that public institutions of higher education have been
highly accountable in the hiring and retention of faculty who are
capable of communicating well in the English language for purposes of
teaching and advising students. In summary, students appear to be
highly satisfied in all public institutions with the level of
communication they are receiving from instructors whose first language
is not English. For the past academic year, faculty members whose
first language is not English are apparently meeting the expectations
of the General Assembly for their ability to communicate effectively
with students.
Recommendations
---------------
The staff suggests that the Committee on Academic Affairs and
Licensing recommend to the Commission that this report be approved and
transmitted to the appropriate chairpersons of the education
committees of the General Assembly.
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