Lehigh University

Step Up is a small but dynamic intensive English program designed to prepare international graduate and undergraduate students for the academic and social expectations of the American university. Step Up is also designed to help working professionals in the academic and business communities improve their language skills and become more effective communicators in the international marketplace. The Step Up program features a rigorous, integrated curriculum that requires its students to invest consistent and concentrated effort to successfully complete. Students are actively engaged in determining and measuring their own language progress throughout the entire Step Up program, first by setting specific learning goals for themselves, and then by describing their progress towards these goals through a series of self-assessments, teacher conferences, and one-on-one advising meetings with program coordinators. Unlike most other ESL programs that assess students solely on the basis of quizzes or standardized exams, Step Up requires students to document the full range of their learning achievements by compiling a comprehensive Step Up Program Portfolio that is evaluated at length by both the student and the Step Up faculty.