Recognition of Bilingual Ability

[Masako]

Hello. What does your school do to recognize your students' bilingual and biliteracy ability? Is there any positive effect of this recognition at school?

[Masako]

※This response was posted by Angela in the Coalition's old forum. When this new forum was set up, It was moved over here.

Hello. The Bulgarian School of Seattle I represent is a partner school of ABSA-The Association of Bulgarian Schools in America. ABSA is providing ALTA testing to recognize students' language proficiency. It measures the most critical piece of productive skills of speaking and writing. In our research of many other tests ALTA is the only one being offered to test Bulgarian language proficiency. The productive score (Speaking and Writing) is at the level of the Seal (Intermediate-High). Based on their belief in access and equity for the less common languages like Bulgarian the Global Seal (and some states) are able to use the productive test scores as proxy for the much more costly receptive skills to test. This has been recognized as a HUGE learning motivation to our students!!

[Masako]

An example of how learning at CBHL schools helps students access to scholarship and other opportunities

ACTFL provided merit-based scholarships to graduating high school seniors who are committed to pursuing the language teaching profession in languages other than English. Scholars are awarded $1500 per academic year (renewable for a cumulative total of up to $6 000 per recipient) as well as ACTFL membership during their participation in the program and for one year following graduation. One of the eligibility requirements to apply is that students have taken at least two years of the same language in high school or present documentation of proficiency results from an ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI), the ACTFL Assessment of Performance Toward Proficiency (AAPPL) or any comparable assessment.
High school students at CBHL schools mostly have learned their heritage languages since Kindergarten so they satisfy the eligibility requirement. If they have a credential such as the Global Seal of Biliteracy (GSB) at CBHL high school, they can easily present their proficiency level in their application. As this ACTFL scholarship eligibility requirement appears to be a good example, GSB provides access to apply for a scholarship, to earn advanced placement at colleges and to many other opportunities.

[Masako]

Colleges that recognize the Global Seal of Biliteracy and the State Seal of Biliteracy

The number of colleges that recognize the Global Seal of Biliteracy and the State Seal of Biliteracy has been increasing every year. Information about the colleges that recognize these credentials for advanced placement is listed here.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DUDMMU1jXgG8EsEp6KqJdSJrPU1ut3Ba/view?usp=sharing]https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DUDMMU1jXgG8EsEp6KqJdSJrPU1ut3Ba/view?usp=sharing

[Masako]

This is so exciting for language learners at The University of Texas at Arlington! Students are able to earn up to 14 UTA credits with Avant STAMP tests or their Global Seal of Biliteracy. This will open up pathways to higher education for language learners of all backgrounds. We couldn't be more excited for the UTA Department of Modern Languages to implement this for their students!

[[email protected]]

I think that the videos (developed by Masako, Angela Hasheva, and Eva Prionas) of students talking about their experience with language development and recognition of their proficiency in their community-based heritage language schools are so inspiring, such a model for other schools and students, and definitely worth watching. Student Voices: Global Seal of Biliteracy (heritagelanguageschools.org)

[Masako]

Global Seal of Biliteracy released interesting statistics that shows the number of the GSB awarded by U.S. states and countries all over the world. They said they will post more statistics. According to them, "most of our middle school recipients are either in dual language immersion programs or in community-based heritage language schools" (personal communication with them).. I hope they will soon provide the data on the number of the community-based heritage language schools that have awarded GSB to their students.

Here is the link to the statistics.

https://theglobalseal.com/statistics

[tnagano]

Many institutions, including CUNY, started to join the credit for prior learning initiative and accept language proficiency exams (such as CLEP and ACTFL OPI) as college-level credits. Most institutions use ACE's National Guide (https://www.acenet.edu/National-Guid...ng-Credit.aspx) and NCCRS (http://www.nationalccrs.org/) as credit guidelines. You can see a list of language proficiency exams that these organization recommend for college-level credits. Below is a list of language exams that the ACE's National Guide recommend for credits in Spanish, just as an example.

• ACTFL OPI
• AP
• CLEP
• DLPT (Defense Language Institute)
• FSI Language Proficiency Test
• UExcel

[Masako]

Very encouraging news!

In these states (and perhaps more), any students not only in public schools but also charter or private schools, and community-based heritage language schools can get the State Seal of Biliteracy once they meet the State requirements. State Seal of Biliteracy used to be limited to the students in public schools. I hope more states lift the limitation and all students no matter what schools they are can be awarded.

• Nebraska: Students in private schools or community-based heritage language schools
• Ohio: Any student from a public, private or community (charter) school
• Oklahoma: Any student (note: school type was not mentioned in the listserv message)
• Utah: Any student from a public, charter or private school

(Source of information: [email protected])

FYI
Here is a link to the Guidelines for Implementing the Seal of Biliteracy (the document created through the collaboration of seven organizations (including NCSSFL).

https://www.actfl.org/uploads/files/general/SOBL_Guidelines.pdf

The Guidelines includes suggestion for non-public educational entities to provide the State Seal of Biliteracy.

[Agnes Tounkara]

Our program serves French heritage speakers in after school heritage programs hosted in public high schools in NYC. For the past 3 years, we've served as a partner to these schools in the Seal of Biliteracy process, getting them ready for the proficiency tests and their capstone Biliteracy project (an additional requirement in NY to obtain the state seal). This is a great way to encourage students to be proud of their bilingualism and to obtain language credentials.

Every year, we prepare some of them for the AP French Language and Culture which not only expose them to the rigor of a college class but also help them obtain college credits; others earn the Global Seal or the New York State Seal of Biliteracy, an official recognition of their bilingualism.Students who earned at least a 3 on the AP French Language and Culture Exam can qualify for the Global Seal; in order to earn the State Seal, they need at least a 4.

The AAPPL test is the other assessment we use for our students who need to score at least at an Intermediate High level to qualify. Last year, 6 of our students obtained the New York State Seal of Biliteracy and 20 was awarded the Global Seal!
The students who earned the Seal all emphasized how conducting research and presenting their findings in front of a panel has prepared them for college. They all expressed how proud they feel to have this formal recognition especially since it was acquired through researching and talking about issues that matter to them: early marriage, comparing schooling systems, cultural differences...