Assessment and Certification of Faculty English Proficiency Policy

Assessment and Certification of Faculty English Proficiency

This policy establishes the responsibility of McNeese State University to assess and certify faculty English proficiency. This policy applies to all full-time and part-time instructional personnel, including graduate assistants, employed by the University and who teach undergraduate- and graduate-level courses.

In compliance with the Board of Regents Academic Affairs Policy 2.20, mandates in Act 745 of the 1991 session of the Louisiana Legislature, and the University of Louisiana System Policy and Procedure Memorandum FSIII. I.C-1, the University is responsible for certifying to the system office certification of English proficiency of all new instructional faculty hired on or after July 1, 2007.

Definitions

Faculty: All full-time and part-time instructional personnel, including graduate assistants, employed by the University and who teach undergraduate- and graduate-level courses.

Instruction: The delivery of pedagogical content required of course fulfillment, not including foreign language courses designed to be taught primarily in a foreign language.

Policy

Each academic department is responsible for evaluating their instructional faculty and staff for English language fluency and certifying that those individuals will be permitted to teach only after demonstrating sufficient fluency in English to be understood in the classroom.

Certification that a new instructional faculty member, teaching graduate assistant, or other academic employee is sufficiently fluent in English to teach or that teaching will be limited to courses in which the primary language of instruction is not English, must be made at the time of hire and before the individual teaches a class by either the academic dean, department head, or designee. If the English language fluency of an individual has been assessed as insufficient or if assessment has not occurred, the academic dean, department head, or designee must certify that the individual will not teach. The English Fluency Certification Form for New Instructional Faculty follows this policy and can be found here.

McNeese shall maintain English fluency certification documents in each personnel file and submit a statement of certification with the University of Louisiana System as required indicating that all newly hired individuals who teach are fluent in the English language.

Exempt from certification to the system office are individuals who teach foreign language courses or courses designed to be taught primarily in a foreign language.

Communication

This policy is distributed via the Academic Advisory Council and the University Policies webpage.