Entry into college is only a beginning step for students. The ultimate goal of transition programs is to help adult learners reach a professional level of employment. Therefore, ESL programs have established contact management systems to track students who have moved on to college. Some ESL programs begin the transitioning process two and a half years before students go on to college, and some follow students throughout their college programs (Rao, 2004).

Maintaining Transition Services

In order for ESL transition-to-college programs to survive, strong cooperation and support of ESL teachers is essential. Equally important is a strong collaboration between the ESL program (either community-based or within the college) and the college. ESL programs and their college partners communicate in many ways, such as:

• Exchanging program newsletters
• Presenting sessions at each other's in-service trainings for instructors
• Holding one-on-one conversations during site visits with various department officers
• Becoming familiar with the content of each other's courses
• Tracking changes in personnel
• Keeping each other informed about program activities and concerns (Lombardo, 2004).

Conclusion

Establishing and maintaining successful transitions from ESL to college programs is hard work and can be time consuming. Relationships with collaborators must be initiated and sustained, and students' progress must be monitored. A system of evaluation and assessment of the transition program is necessary for improvement and sustainability (Dann-Messier & Kampits, 2004). However, the rewards are promising. As English language learners enter college better prepared to handle the social and academic challenges, fewer will drop out or withdraw, and more will succeed.