JNCL-NCLIS Website

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JNCL-NCLIS Article: Making Your Voice Heard is Important

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Since there are several abbreviations that often appear in the JNCL report, I will try to explain the most frequent ones. Sometimes a longer abbreviation for the organization is used: JNCL/NCLIS. The two parts are Joint National Committee for Languages and National Council for Languages and International Studies. The mission of JNCL/NCLIS is to continue to create the context for languages and international awareness as parts of basic education for all domestic and overseas sectors – including private, government, and community-based programs. The organization is comprised of over sixty education and professional associations representing more than 200,000 language and international studies professionals. Member associations represent all languages from English to the less-commonly taught languages to the classics to bilingual education and American Sign Language. They are concerned with all levels of education from kindergarten to post-graduate work and involved in all aspects of language acquisition and usage including research, technology, professional development, and translation and interpretation. For practical purposes, JNCL and NCLIS are one organization. However, for financial purposes the advocacy and lobbying arm (NCLIS) is technically a separate entity. For reporting purposes, contributions to NCLIS and its expenditures must be kept separate from those of JNCL, though the governance structure and staff are shared. Contributions/dues from our state organization are divided equally between the two parts of the organization. Membership in the groups is made up of state language organizations such as FLAM, regional organizations such as CSC (Central States Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages – the one that covers the seventeen states in our part of the country), and various other organizations (of which ACTFL – American Council of Teachers of Foreign Languages – is one). Representatives of each of the member organizations meet annually during early May in Washington, DC, for a Legislative Day and Delegate Assembly. During the Legislative Day, each participant visits the offices of Senators and Representatives to urge support of significant legislation that is (or will be) before Congress. The Delegate Assembly elects the board of directors and helps to guide policy for the organizations. The Washington, DC, office staff tracks pertinent legislation throughout the year and keeps member organizations apprised of important developments, as well as providing information to legislators. Two of the programs that have been of most interest to JNCL for the last several years are FLAP (Foreign Language Assistance Program) and FLIP (Foreign Language Incentive Program). Through a competitive application process, FLAP provides grants to schools to enable them to establish language programs. FLIP was a part of FLAP in the early 1990s but was not included the last time ESEA (Elementary and Secondary Education Act) was reauthorized. Under this program the Secretary of Education was to make an incentive payment for each fiscal year to each public elementary school that provided to students attending the school a program designed to lead to communicative competency in a foreign language. The letters that have been written through the JNCL booth at FLAM and CSC conferences and the legislative visits for the last several years have sought to continue the funding for FLAP.


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