The Federal Law Enforcement Training Accreditation (FLETA) Board is pleased to announce it granted accreditation status to the U.S. Border Patrol’s Spanish Task-Based Language Teaching Program (STBLTP) at the November 5, 2009 meeting held in San Francisco, California.
The STBLTP is an immersion-type program that focuses on communicative activities rather than grammatical drills and exercises. Relying on a variety of learning technologies, the students increase their Spanish-speaking skills via a series of eight learning modules that progress in linguistic difficulty and complexity. Each learning technology centers on the critical tasks that Border Patrol Agents must perform in the field, and each exercise reinforces in Spanish what the students learned in Basic Training.
FLETA Board Member Brian Lamkin commented on how critical Spanish language skills are to the mission of the Border Patrol and complimented the Border Patrol on their program. The Border Patrol representatives were also recognized for how well-prepared they were for the program assessment and the quality of their presentation to the Board Review Committee.
It is the Board’s goal to improve the Federal law enforcement community with each accreditation, and the Board has now awarded 33 program accreditations and 11 academy accreditations.
To achieve accreditation, an agency must undergo a voluntary thorough assessment of their academy and/or program to ensure compliance with the FLETA standards. These professional standards were developed to increase agency effectiveness and efficiency. The standards address the following areas: Academy Administration; Qualifications and Development of Training Staff; Program Administration; and Program and Curriculum Development. The FLETA Board is nationally recognized by Federal law enforcement agencies, as well as stakeholders in law enforcement training.
To maintain accredited status, agencies are required to submit annual reports to the FLETA Board and participate in a reaccreditation process every three years. If you would like more information regarding the FLETA process, please visit the website at www.FLETA.gov or contact FLETA at 912-261-3684.