Promising Practices

The Community College Consortium for Immigrant Education is developing a compendium of promising practices to provide community colleges an opportunity to learn from one another, share new ideas, and expand and improve their programs to meet the educational needs of immigrants. If your college offers a program or service that successfully meets the needs of your immigrant students, please consider submitting it for our website catalog. Submit your Promising Practices online

Johnson County Community College
Overland Park, KS

Homestay and Community Support Services
Johnson County’s community partnership program—which serves a mix of documented and undocumented immigrant students, international students, and community members—helps individuals navigate a variety of processes that can often present obstacles to higher education: applying for a driver’s license, opening a bank account, locating medical care, accessing community support services, and finding housing. Read more.

Luzerne County Community College
Nanticoke, PA

Spanish GED Prep Program (Hazelton Center)
As more and more companies and factories require a GED, interest in Luzerne’s Spanish GED Prep program continues to grow. The program, which enables Hispanic/Latino community members to prepare for the GED exam in their native language, has provided many with the opportunity to obtain jobs, as well as enroll in ESL courses and further their education. Read more.

ESL Bridge Program (Hazelton Center)
The purpose of this after-school program for high school sophomores and juniors is to decrease the dropout rate among Hispanic/Latino students, increase test scores, foster academic success, and facilitate a smooth transition from high school to higher education. The ESL Bridge Program assists students with English language, developmental reading, math, study, and pre-employment skills. Read more.

Intergenerational ESL Program (Hazelton Center)
This non-credit program, especially important for newly arrived Hispanic/Latino families, addresses the educational and school readiness needs of pre-school ESL children and their parents or primary care givers. Designed to strengthen reading, writing, and math skills for school readiness, the program also provides parents/care givers with ESL instruction and informative presentations on navigating the public school system. Read more.

Miami Dade College
Miami, FL

Refugee/Entrant Vocational Educational Services Training (REVEST) Program
In existence since 1999, this comprehensive program of adult education credit and non-credit courses is designed to improve the employability of eligible clients. The REVEST program provides adult refugees of all nationalities with English language training, adult basic education, vocational courses, referrals to other service agencies, transportation and childcare subsidies, and help with evaluation of foreign-earned credentials. Read more. [Miami Dade Revest]

Adult Education/EL Civics Program
These programs combine academics (ESOL, citizenship, and GED preparation classes) with student services (financial literacy, health literacy, children’s tutoring, and family-oriented cultural activities.) The communities served are home to the poorest immigrant populations in Miami-Dade County and include Hispanic, Haitian, and European (mainly Russian) immigrants and their families. Quality and dedication of instructors and staff and community partnerships are critical to success, as evidenced by outstanding retention, test scores, and participation in post-secondary or GED Preparation programs. Read more.

Honors Bridge
The Honors Bridge program is designed to prepare highly motivated and academically strong ESL students with an opportunity to apply to Miami Dade’s prestigious Honors College. Spending time with Honors College mentors and participating in service learning with their instructors make students feel connected to the college—a major factor in retention. All Honors Bridge students accepted into the Honors College have completed the rigorous program and continued on to four-year institutions. Read more.

Title V Project ACE (Accelerated Content-Based English) Program
This brand new 2009 program offers a fast-track EAP (English for Academic Purposes) curriculum to immigrants with strong academic backgrounds, including those with degrees from their countries of origin. This accelerated option features content-based instruction in which students learn English at the same time they are studying academic subjects such as psychology or biology. Project ACE faculty and staff are building the program with sustainability and replication in mind. Read more.

Northern Virginia Community College
Annandale, VA

ESL for Employment
Increasingly in many communities across America – urban, suburban, and rural communities as well - the voice of the poor speaks limited English with a foreign accent. Situated in one of the nation’s top new-immigrant gateways for the past decade, Northern Virginia Community College shares its experience in responding to this challenge through an innovative community-based initiative that prepares intermediate-level adult ESL participants for better-paying careers. Click here to learn more about the ESL for Employment program at Northern Virginia Community College.

Steps to Success
Over the past 5 years, Northern Virginia Community College and Northern Virginia Family Services Training Futures program have pioneered and deepened a unique Steps to Success partnership. Through this community college-nonprofit workforce development partnership, over 500 low-income trainees at Training Futures have enrolled at NOVA and earned college credits to help them launch and advance new professional careers. Click here for the full Steps to Success case study.

Pima Community College
Tucson, AZ

Refugee Education Project (REP)
Since 1978, REP has been providing English Language Training to eligible refugees in Tucson, which receives one of the biggest numbers of resettled refugees in the state. The primary goal is employment as soon as possible. Classes held at various levels, from pre-literacy through advanced, focus on English as it relates to getting and holding jobs. Students learn oral and written communication skills to be able to function on the job, fill out employment forms, and do other employment-related tasks as needed. Read more.

Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges
Olympia, WA

Integrated Basic Education and Skills Training (I-BEST)
I-BEST challenges the traditional notion that Basic Skills adults need years of remediation before being introduced to and enabled to master college level work. The I-BEST program is run throughout the publicly funded 34 community and technical colleges in Washington state, and is supported by and coordinated through the Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges. The program integrates basic academic skills and specific occupational skills leading to high-need jobs in the labor market. Read more.

Westchester Community College
Valhalla, NY

TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) Certificate Program
The need for a TESOL certificate program arose mainly from three factors: demand for ESL services, providing the right combination of classroom experience and training, and an increasing number of people interested in second careers. The Institute, which provides ESL classes for over 4,000 students per year, is one of the largest ESL programs in the region and requires the hiring or rehiring of 65 to 80 adjunct instructors three times per year. Read more.

Neighbors Link (Mt. Kisco, NY.)
Offered through WCC’s English Language Institute, this daily makeshift “Job English” class for day laborers is held at the job and social services center run by Neighbors Link, a local nonprofit group in Mt. Kisco. Students are juggling jobs and classes, and they come and go as they get hired, but the course is helping them communicate better with employers—and it’s forced Westchester ESL instructors to rethink teaching. Read more.