English Learners' Pathways in California's Community Colleges Under AB 705

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California’s Assembly Bill 705 has affected the way that English learners (ELs) access English and English as a second language (ESL) coursework, requiring that degree- or transfer-seeking students have the right to enroll in English or ESL courses, and community colleges are responsible for implementing initial placement practices and designing curricular structures that maximize gateway English completion. We found that ELs who graduated from a US high school and then enrolled in a community college experienced much higher throughput rates when allowed to enroll directly in transferable, college-level English composition than if they were directed to the ESL Pathway. We provide recommendations for community colleges to (a) improve placement for this subgroup of ELs, (b) integrate English support into academic instruction throughout college-level courses, and (c) better track the academic pathways of ELs from high school to college in administrative data sets.