Seal of Biliteracy OLD

What is the Seal of Biliteracy?

The Seal of Biliteracy recognizes graduates who speak, listen, read and write proficiently in another language in addition to English with a seal on the high school diploma. The Seal bill has the goal of promoting long term foreign, native, and heritage language study, documenting achievement in biliteracy, and producing a biliterate, multicultural workforce.

The Massachusetts state Seal of Biliteracy was established in November 2017 as part of the LOOK Act. Regulations for the Seal of Biliteracy were passed by the Board of Education in June 2018. 

Note: As of the 2018-19 school year, the State Seal of Biliteracy will be administered by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Office of Language Acquisition (OLA). DESE will release official guidance for the state award – see http://www.doe.mass.edu/ell/ for updates.

Connections

Guidlelines

  • State Seal of Biliteracy Award Criteria from Department of Elementary and Secondary Eduction.
  • 2017 Seal of Biliteracy Toolkit – Revised Jan 2018 pdf version/doc version
    • NOTE: This toolkit was developed by the Language Opportunity Coalition for the Seal of Biliteracy pilot project, which operated from 2014-18 prior to establishment of the state award under the LOOK Act. Guidance from DESE on the State Seal of Biliteracy has not yet been released — please check http://www.doe.mass.edu/ell/ for updates.
    • This toolkit provides guidelines for local implementation of the Seal of Biliteracy. Developed by the Seal of Biliteracy working group, a group of Massachusetts educators from one-way immersion, two-way immersion, bilingual, English language development, and world language programs, it is intended to support District/School Leaders responsible for implementing Seal of Biliteracy pilot programs.
  • National Guidelines for Implementing the Seal of Biliteracy (2015) from ACTFL, NABE, TESOL & NCSSFL.

Assessment