Seal of Biliteracy: Ukiah Unified celebrates linguistic proficiency

for Ukiah Daily Journal

?The Seal of Biliteracy is an award given by a school district or county office of education in recognition of students who have studied and attained proficiency in two or more languages by high school graduation. The seal appears not only on the diploma but on the transcript as well. It encourages students to pursue biliteracy, honors the skills that students attain, and can be evidence of skills that are attractive to future employers and college admissions offices.

It was first developed in 2008, and currently more than 165 school districts are granting these awards.?Legislation creating a California State Seal of Biliteracy was passed in 2011, and California became the first state in the nation to establish a state level Seal of Biliteracy. This year, Ukiah Unified will be one of those schools honoring students for gaining dual language proficiency.

The creation of this program at Ukiah Unified has been an ongoing work in progress since the onset of the language immersion program at Grace Hudson. In order to reinforce students' accomplishments through all the grade levels it became a clear necessity. It was taken to the board and approved for implementation in October of 2012.

Maria Armstrong, assistant superintendent of Educational Services, explains the awards associated with the tiers. "The students graduating from Grace Hudson's Dual Language Immersion Program receive a certificate; from middle school a ribbon with a medallion; and from high school a seal on the diploma and transcript."

These are the three milestones. In order to attain recognition of being proficient and biliterate, students at the elementary level?have to score proficient or advanced in grade 4 using the Spanish assessment, Apprenda, or on the STS, a Spanish equivalent for the state test; a 4 or 5 on the Idea Proficiency Test; and proficient or advanced in English on the CST English Language Arts test.

At middle school graduation, they have to attain the same level of testing as above at the 7th?grade level and a score of 3 or above on the Spanish for Native Speakers Entrance Essay. At the high school level, they have to achieve an overall GPA of 2.0, attain proficient or advanced status on the CST testing in 11th?grade, and receive a 3 or above on an AP language test.

Armstrong says, "The benefits are there. We are a global society. It is our desire to educate students to be prepared for the world market as well as being able to engage in global discourse. We have relationships across all borders; knowing how to read and speak fluently in another language creates community bridges, the ability to be productive and knowledgeable global citizens and multi-lingual Americans.

"There is a huge benefit to this. People become more educated as a populace and begin to understand the dynamics of learning another language and understanding another culture.

"Right now, we have a huge English language learner population in our community. Often times we only see challenges in trying to develop their English versus celebrating the strengths of their Spanish and using those skills to make cognitive connections to develop their English."

She continues, "Being bilingual you can engage in society from a broader and deeper point of view; you become less isolated and expand your horizons in terms of being able to operate outside your comfort zone. It connects you to the greater community; you become exposed to another culture and a diversity of ideas.

"From a social justice point of view there is the whole notion of being empathetic; we can easily lose our empathy when we are unable to put ourselves in someone else's shoes. Learning another language is much more than just that; it broadens our perspective and understanding of other people; it strengthens us personally and as a nation. When we become isolated and fearful, we turn to other less satisfactory means.

"There needs to be more world languages offered in our schools; it's programs like these that bring about community awareness. This is the critical time to develop second or third language skills; the young are excited. They do not yet have the preconceived notions that we develop later as adults. They are more open and want to communicate with those who cross their paths. They are more likely to want to interact."