All 50 states and the District of Columbia now allow high schools to award their graduates a seal of biliteracy, signaling that they’ve achieved multilingualism, mastering English plus another world language.
While outgoing Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona celebrated this milestone at a summit in Washington over the summer, the appetite among students for this distinction has long been on the rise. A newly published report documents this increasing interest in a distinction that started off as an effort to recognize the abilities of English learners in California.
The number of high school graduates earning a seal of biliteracy grew from 147,937 in the 2021-22 school year to 158,384 in 2022-23, according to the latest Seal of Biliteracy national report.
Students also received seals in a greater number of world languages in 2022-23 (143 compared to 127 the year before), and the percentage of seals awarded to current and former English learners ticked up, to 40 percent from 38 percent the year before.
The rise is in part due to more states passing policies allowing schools to award the seals, and more states reporting data on seal recipients, said Samuel Aguirre, a report co-author and the senior director of consortium and state relations at WIDA, the organization that oversees the English language proficiency tests used by most states.
But it also reflects rising interest in the distinction as a way to recognize both English learners and native English speakers who master another language.
The numbers mark a long journey from what started as a grassroots effort in California more than a decade ago to recognize the linguistic assets of the state’s English learners who graduate mastering both English and their home language. (California was responsible for more than a third of seals awarded nationwide in 2022-23.)
And while many educators hope state education agencies continue to support the seal of biliteracy, those involved aren’t sure how much they’ll see from the federal government moving forward, whether through cheerleading for and promotion of the seals or additional funding for services for English learners.
“I think that there is great opportunity in providing federal guidance as to not just the data component for the seal of biliteracy, but also some general measures for the award itself,” Aguirre said. “Because every state adopts their own seal of biliteracy, we get to see this diversity of what is needed to be an awardee from state to state, so I think some federal guidance will be very welcome.”
States have invested in the seal of biliteracy
Whatever happens with federal support, those championing the seal have faith in its persistence moving forward. That’s tied in part to how it’s already part of established state policy and that a majority of seal of biliteracy recipients are U.S.-born students who never needed instruction to learn English, Aguirre said, making it a program for all students and not just a subset of the student population.
States and local school districts have invested time and effort over the years to try and broaden the seal’s reach. Much of this work involves ensuring that current and former English learners and other students who speak less common languages have access to the assessments they need to determine their proficiency and, thus, whether they’re eligible for a seal.
Minnesota, for example, created an assessment for the Karen (pronounced ka-RIN) language from Myanmar, where the language had been banned from public schools since the 1960s following a military coup.
Inspired by the seal of biliteracy program and local requests for Karen language instruction, the St. Paul district in Minnesota’s capital now offers two course levels—one for students who were fluent in understanding and speaking Karen but required reading and writing instruction, and another for beginner students, said Megan Budke, the district’s immersion, indigenous, and world languages coordinator.
Strategies that can boost participation in seal of biliteracy programs include offering language proficiency assessments at all district schools during the school day, and proactively communicating about the seal with families and the local community, Budke said.
“For a long time, our hope has been to have all 50 states offer a bilingual seal, and so it’s exciting that we’ve finally reached that point. Now that the seal is accessible to everyone it’s really about digging into our own local data,” she said. “Who is getting access to assessments, who is not? Who’s signing up to take assessments? Who is not? And using that data to be mindful and intentional about how we offer opportunities and even recruit students to take assessments.”
In New Mexico, which boasted the highest percentage of seals awarded to current and former English learners in both 2021-22 and 2022-23, students can demonstrate language proficiency through a portfolio process rather than an exam, allowing schools to award seals for a greater number of languages.
New Mexico education officials are now also working with colleges and universities to allow students to earn college credit for attaining the seal and sorting out how the distinction can build a pathway for in-demand bilingual educators to gain their endorsements and work with English learners in the state’s public schools, said Mayra A. Valtierrez, the director of language and culture at the state’s education department.
“We’re working through revisiting our state regulation around bilingual education competencies and how teachers are awarded the bilingual endorsement, ensuring that it is inclusive of honoring the biliteracy and bilingualism that we see from our students who earn the seal,” Valtierrez said.
Federal support could still help the seal of biliteracy grow
Though some states have helped districts make the seal of biliteracy available to more students and for a greater number of languages, federal support can still help, educators working on seal of biliteracy efforts said.
Additional federal support under Title III—which funds supplemental programs for English learners—could help cover the costs associated with developing assessments for less commonly spoken languages, a responsibility that’s often left to individual states and local community members, Budke said.
But once those assessments are developed and become available, students in more places can earn a seal of biliteracy in that language.
Between the 2021-22 and 2022-23 school years, the number of states awarding a seal of biliteracy in American Sign Language grew from 16 to 23. That might be because a new, affordable, virtual assessment became available to more states. Minnesota has also shared its own Karen language assessment with other states, paving the way for districts in those states to offer the seal of biliteracy in an additional language.
While increased federal support is far from certain—especially as President-elect Donald Trump prepares to take office with pledges to slash federal K-12 funding—Budke and others are leaning on grassroots efforts to maintain and grow enthusiasm for the seal.
“Regardless of what larger federal level oversight or funding might look like, I do feel very confident in our multilingual educators, that we do take a lot of ownership of this,” she said.
