seal of biliteracy
For the 2024/2025 school year, it's time to start thinking about offering your proficient students the opportunity to earn the Seal of Biliteracy. For more information about the Vermont Seal, take a look at the website vtsealofbiliteracy.org which should offer much information about what it is and why it is important to recognize our proficient students. If you have students who qualify for this award, please use this form.
Contact Keri Bristow (kerilynbristow@gmail.com) or Leah Rogstad (lrogstad@wsesdvt.org) for more information.
You may have heard of the Seal of Biliteracy, an award that is currently given to high school seniors in 40 states. It honors second language proficiency along with heritage or English language proficiency. For the past two years, some schools in Vermont have been awarding this award under the guidance of the Vermont Foreign Language Association (VFLA). As well, the VFLA has been advocating and meeting with the AOE to get it established as an official award in our state. Recently, Secretary Dan French approved this award for Vermont students. This award honors students who study a world language in school and achieve proficiency levels of Intermediate Mid and above on the ACTFL scale, as well as ELL students who achieve a similar score via the WIDA test or other acceptable measure. There are various ways to demonstrate proficiency, including testing and portfolios.
The Seal of Biliteracy is the only award recognized by the AOE for graduating seniors and certainly will help advocate for world language programs across our state. For more information visit Vermont Seal of Biliteracy