Gov. Gavin Newsom recently signed a bill into law that was authored by Central Coast Assemblymember Dawn Addis.
The Biliteracy Advancement Act will change the current standards for earning a seal and allow students to demonstrate proficiency in English by adding more options than the standard test.
“Students originally needed to show their proficiency in English by taking or passing the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress in English Language Arts and now there's going to be other measures that can qualify a student as understanding English proficiency into the other language proficiency," Lisa Yamashita, assistant superintendent of educational services at San Luis Coastal Unified said.
The State Seal of Biliteracy is marked by a gold seal on a high school diploma or transcript, recognizing high school graduates who have attained proficiency in speaking, reading, and writing in one or more languages in addition to English.
“We’re the fifth largest economy in the world," Assemblymember Addis said. "And so as we prepare students for the future, we want a way that they can show what they've done to colleges, to future employers. And so the seal of biliteracy is something that students can show to denote their high levels of achievement in English and a world language.”
In 2012, California was the first state to implement the State Seal of Biliteracy and since then, 49 states and Washington D.C. have followed suit, adopting their own version.
“California has one of the largest student bodies in the nation," Addis added. "I would say we are one of the most thoughtful when it comes to serving the range of students that come to our schools.”
The 11th-grade test is one of two requirements under the English proficiency portion, and until now, students had to pass without an option for substitution. That is now changing.
“If a student is a poor test-taker, but they have the knowledge or they missed school that day or they were sick, then they wouldn't be able to get the seal of biliteracy," Addis said. "So we wanted to make sure that every student had equitable opportunities."
“Also, if they're a special needs student, that may not they may not traditionally participate in that assessment, but take an alternative assessment to show their proficiencies, then they would still be eligible for receiving a biliteracy seal," Yamashita noted.
The law taking effect in California on January 1, 2024, and will now provide five options to students who want to demonstrate proficiency in the second language.
“We know that the brains of adults and children who speak multiple languages and understand multiple languages are literally different and function differently through scans and research," Yamashita said. "And so we will continue to cultivate that celebration of being multilingual.”
According to data, the largest state seals of biliteracy recognize English and Spanish, followed by French, Chinese, Japanese, and American Sign Language.
