All 50 states and the District of Columbia now allow schools to award the seal of biliteracy to graduating students. Yet researchers and educators alike see a need for intentional support to ensure English learners access this special notation on their high school diplomas.
In an analysis of 39 states offering the seal of biliteracy in the 2021-22 school year, various researchers found that only 27 states disaggregated recipient data by whether students were ever classified as English learners. Among these states, only about 8 percent of seal recipients overall were ever English learners.
Some states have led the way in terms of ensuring English learners equitably access the notation. Seventy-four percent of all seal of biliteracy recipients were ever English learners in New Mexico in 2021-22. And 55 percent of recipients in Illinois were ever English learners in the 2022-23 school year.
Leaders from both states shared strategies with Education Week that have helped them focus on equity when promoting the seal of biliteracy in their districts.
“There is a need, not only for us at the state level but for advocates at the local district levels, to speak up on behalf of their English learners,” said Joanne Clyde, the director of the multilingual/language development department within the Illinois state board of education.
States allow students to use portfolios to attain seals
Most states require students to pass language assessments to qualify for the seal of biliteracy. This can often mean getting a high score on an Advanced Placement language exam. But vetted assessments covering all four language domains (reading, writing, speaking, and listening) don’t exist for all world languages.
It’s why states such as Illinois and New Mexico offer portfolio processes for students to demonstrate language proficiency and attain a seal.
In Illinois, for instance, a student can present a writing sample or a presentation, or evidence of completion of courses from a heritage language school as part of a portfolio district and school leaders can assess in collaboration with language experts, Clyde said.
In New Mexico, a tribal nation or pueblo decide the proficiency process and the proficiency assessment or determination to use their languages as the agency of sovereign entities, said Mayra Valtierrez, the director of the language and culture division of the New Mexico public education department. Districts or charter schools are then notified if students meet standards to attain the seal of biliteracy on their diplomas.
New Mexico also offers a portfolio process similar to that in Illinois where students present evidence of language proficiency to a panel. Standards for this are set at the district and school level, Valtierrez said.
These alternative pathways to attaining the seal help English learners in particular who may speak languages not commonly taught in public school settings, state leaders said. And while not all states offer such pathways, it’s something that can be addressed moving forward. Leaders in Illinois are revisiting state rules that say language assessments for the seal of biliteracy must cover all four domains in order to include languages that don’t use all four, Clyde said.
When rules were set for the seal of biliteracy in New Mexico, state leaders focused on honoring students’ home languages and avoiding adding any additional requirements for English learners to attain the seal, beyond existing English language proficiency criteria.
“There was a time … where our kiddos weren’t allowed to speak their home or heritage language at school, and there was corporal punishment for it,” Valtierrez said. “Because of that awareness of that heritage in that background, when the seal was created, and really the administrative code was worked on, we had a working session with various individuals of a task force that helped us determine how to set all of this up.”
States and districts promote the seal and its financial benefits
Even within states that set equitable standards for attaining the seal of biliteracy, leaders say intentional outreach and promotion to English learners and their families is key.
Clyde spoke of one district English-learner coordinator who got 27 English learners to graduate with the seal or commendation (a notation on their diploma that still demonstrates intermediate-low language proficiency) by explaining to them how it could save them money in college.
In Illinois, the state seal of biliteracy can count toward college credits similarly to AP language scores at all public institutions and some private ones, Clyde said. Commendations can also count for credit at some universities and community colleges. The seal also counts toward language proficiency requirements for teacher certification in the state.
“The English-learner coordinator for the district saw that their English learners weren’t included in the seal,” Clyde said. “And it wasn’t because they were being excluded but they also weren’t being invited.
“It took the action of that one advocate to intentionally invite parents to speak because oftentimes, they don’t know. It could be forgotten. It could be that maybe the information wasn’t sent home.”
In New Mexico, Valtierrez’s team does all they can to promote the various pathways and benefits of the seal, including informing high school counselors and social workers.
In Illinois, outreach for the seal includes contacting consular offices that run education or community affairs as well as ethnic language schools that offer language assessments the state can verify for seal qualification.
“[The seal of biliteracy] is still a voluntary program. It’s not a mandated program. But we are still working on outreach to our districts to encourage those high schools in the seal program, and we’re looking forward to and considering how we can build a pathways program to get younger kids on the path to getting a seal,” Clyde said.
