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Equity and Access to State Seals of Biliteracy

This initiative offers a wide range of practical resources to support more equitable student access to and attainment of seals of biliteracy.

Initiative Overview

This initiative provides more equitable access to seals of biliteracy through research, the creation of customizable promotional materials for parents and employers, adaptable toolkits and templates for teachers and administrators, assessment supports for less commonly taught and heritage languages, and increased professional capacity to equitably administer and curricularly support student attainment of state seals.

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What are state seals of biliteracy?

State seals of biliteracy or multilingualism are awards given to U.S. high school graduates who demonstrate high levels of proficiency in a language other than English. Minnesota, like nearly all U.S. states, offers a version of the seal. Seals are an important recognition and powerful step towards reframing multilingualism and multiliteracy as individual and societal assets.

What is the need for this initiative?

Although seals of biliteracy or multilingualism are technically eligible to nearly all U.S. high school graduates, access is biased toward students of widely taught languages and those residing in large or well-resourced districts. Speakers of less commonly taught languages (LCTLs) and heritage languages (HLs) as well as learners in rural districts earn the seals at comparatively lower rates. 

Read the article Addressing Gaps in Minnesota’s Seals of Biliteracy Program to learn more about the need for this initiative in the Minnesota context.

How is this initiative supporting state seals of biliteracy?

This CARLA initiative promotes world language study by generating wider awareness of—and more equitable access to—state seals of biliteracy through four areas of work: 

  • documentation and analysis of current practices and challenges regionally and nationally; 
  • design and disseminatation of empirically informed, customizable promotional materials and templates for parents, students, and employers in the form of an adaptable toolkit; 
  • creation of assessment supports for students of less commonly taught languages (LCTLs) and heritage languages (HLs); 
  • and increased professional capacity to equitably administer and curricularly support student attainment of state seals.

Minnesota resources can be found on the MN Bilingual Seals Toolkit. Watch for more national resources in the coming year!