American Councils for International Education is pleased to announce the launch of the AC Research Center (ARC). As an organization with four decades of experience in the design and implementation of large-scale language immersion, academic exchange, and language education, American Councils has established ARC in order to expand the pool of policy-relevant data and research available to decision-makers at all levels who are concerned with language in education and the workplace. ARC is distinguished from other research efforts by its focus on world languages: their acquisition, application, and relevance in today's world.
ARC will address central issues in US language policy with a global perspective to research and policy formation by providing data and new analyses related to language learning, including the impact of a second language on educational achievement and performance in the workplace. Further policy issues include: language acquisition and overseas immersion, domestic language immersion in K-12, heritage bilinguals and formal education, cognitive advantages of acquired bilingualism, and second language acquisition and literacy. ARC will engage leading US and international researchers and policy makers, as well as organizational partners and American Councils research staff, in the conduct of its research. ARC will sponsor fellowships for US and international fellows and engage in outreach activities for policymakers and the general public through publications and policy roundtables.
As an academically independent organization under the American Councils umbrella, Drs. Richard D. Brecht, Dan E. Davidson, and Robert O. Slater will direct ARC activity. Dr. Brecht is an internationally recognized expert on language policy and research in academe and the government. He was the founding executive director of the University of Maryland Center for Advanced Study of Language (CASL) and, prior to founding CASL, was the Director of the National Foreign Language Center. Dr. Davidson is president of American Councils and professor of Russian and Second Language Acquisition at Bryn Mawr College. He is a recognized authority on learning in overseas immersion and is acknowledged internationally for developing, and overseeing a wide range of international initiatives in educational development, training, and research. Domestically, he has served as elected president of the two principal international education organizations, the Alliance for International Education and the JNCL. Dr. Slater, for more than three decades, has been a national leader in creating innovative solutions to language issues across the nation. Formerly the Director of the National Security Education Program, he created and launched the Language Flagship effort, the National Language Service Corps, and numerous scholarship and fellowship programs that support the study of languages by US students from kindergarten through post-secondary education.