Promoting Greater Equity and Access to Minnesota Seals of Bilingualism

CARLA INITIATIVE PRESENTATION: Many U.S. states now offer seals of bilingualism to qualifying high school graduates. While seals are an important official recognition with both symbolic and monetary value (in the form of college tuition credits), access to state seals of bilingualism remains uneven. This presentation provides an overview of efforts to address this gap via CARLA’s Equity and Access to States Seals of Biliteracy initiative. Here we share findings from a 2022-2023 needs analysis with Minnesota world language teachers, coordinators and administrators. These qualitative and quantitative findings inform the current stage of the project: development of multilingual toolkits, promotional materials and assessment supports. This presentation shares these tools as well as challenges in developing them and overviews the next stages of the project.

Presenters:

• Kendall King is Professor of Multilingual Education, where she teaches and conducts research on language policy, sociolinguistics and child bilingualism and second language learning. Her recent research (with collaborator Maria Schwedhelm) examines equity and access to state seals of biliteracy. Together, with Ayumi Stockman, she co-directs CARLA’s Equity and Access to States Seals of Biliteracy initiative.
• Ayumi Stockman is World Languages Education Specialist at the Minnesota Department of Education. A former World Language Content Specialist at Minneapolis Public Schools, Ayumi has been instrumental in providing guidance to schools and districts in program design, assessments, curriculum development, teacher training, and overseeing the successful implementation of the Minnesota Bilingual Seals Program.

This CARLA Presentation is cosponsored by the Multilingual Education program in the College of Education and Human Development.