Arkansas Seal of Biliteracy

Seal of Biliteracy Status

Approved State Seal

Adoption Date

2018-06-14

Website(s)

Visit Site

State Contact(s)

ARSB Committee Chair
arbiliteracy@gmail.com

Arkansas State Info:

No State Info at this time

Arkansas Seal of Biliteracy Updates

Jan-24-2018

Iowa is now considering the Seal of Biliteracy! https://www.legis.iowa.gov/legislation/BillBook?ba=SSB3092&ga=86
Jan-24-2018

These are two of the most misunderstood terms in language testing. Both are very important in determining whether a particular test is appropriate in a given situation.

Simply stated, reliability means that if you give the same test to the same student s/he will get the same score. This is not easy to accomplish. For computer scored questions (items) in reading and listening, a test developer needs to conduct a statistical analysis of the items. This process is called psychometric analysis. The analysis is conducted on data from a number of test-takers, who ideally have a wide range of skill levels. If the item is a good one, the analysis will confirm that it consistently discerns the accurate level of the test taker. In other words, if it is an intermediate-low item, novice-level test takers will consistently get it wrong, and intermediate and above test takers will get it correct. The more consistently an item performs this way the better it is at differentiating the test taker’s language skill. The analysis will put each item on a spectrum from easy to hard. The result of that effort will show that not all intermediate-low items are created equal with some items at the same level being harder than others. That degree of difficulty within a level needs to be taken into account when building the test. A computer scored test that consists of a well laid out set of items that have been psychometrically identified as good items should be a highly reliable test of those skills.

Although there are some computer scored writing and speaking tests, generally creating a reliable test of speaking and writing requires very consistent human scoring. First of all, there need to be several raters scoring tests for there to be any way to measure the reliability of the rating. The degree of consistency of rating is determined by calculating what is called, “Inter-Rater Reliability” (IRR). In other words, how reliably consistent is the scoring among different raters. If the IRR is high, then the reliability of the test is high and you can rely on the test score to be accurate.

Validity is a much less precise or scientific thing. Simply stated, a test is valid if it is measuring the appropriate things for the use it is being put to. If a teacher wants to know whether learners memorized their French vocabulary homework s/he would give them a set of questions about the homework. S/he wouldn’t ask them about the history of China. If you want to measure learners’ proficiency levels you should ask them real world questions that they haven’t specifically prepared for, at a variety of levels to see what they can really do with the language. This would be a valid approach to measuring a test taker’s ability to accomplish real-world tasks (=proficiency).
Jan-24-2018

By: Arthur Chou

The 2017 year flew by, and the states of Ohio, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Missouri and, Massachusetts established the Seal of Biliteracy. Twenty-nine states, with the addition of Washington DC, have now implemented the Seal of Biliteracy. The National Dual Language School Directory on DualLanguageSchools.org grew from 1,213 schools to 1,452 schools, and we hope hundreds of more schools will be added.

Despite the national political climate, California convened the English Learner Roadmap, and Massachusetts passed the LOOK bill. Both policies encourage "Biliteracy for All" and bring back bilingual education for our students. The teacher shortage for bilingual and dual immersion programs became the main topic of conversation, and in September 2017 the U.S. Department of Education's Office of English Language Acquisition (OELA) awarded a $20 million federal grant to English-Language Learner (ELL) teacher development.

We are working with eleven states and hope half of them will establish the Seal of Biliteracy in 2018. Additionally, DualLangaugeSchools.org will undergo a major upgrade in March 2018, which will help Dual Language Schools connect online and share resources.

We would like to give special thanks to the eleven Teachers of the Month: Ms. Angela Palmieri, Ms. Laura Reyes, Ms. Rosa Denson, Ms. Krishna Borja Cruz, Ms. Christina Perez, Ms. Vanessa Garcia, and Ms. Paula Rios all from California. Ms. Jen Temple from Oregon, Ms. Sarah Quezada from Texas, Mr. Chris Bessonette from Wyoming, and Ms. Isabel Marsh from Georgia. Please keep nominating your favorite Dual Language teacher who you believe are deserving of this honor.

We appreciate the support from the Biliteracy and Dual Immersion community that continues to help further students' biliteracy skills. We wish you a very Happy Holiday season and a great New Year!

Recent State Updates

- South Dakota
- Jan-30-2024
- The South Dakota Department of Education is offering a Silver and Gold Seal of Biliteracy. The requirements for obtaining the seals can be found in the SD Seal of Biliteracy Implementation Guide below. Students who qualify will receive a physical seal that can be affixed to their high school diplomas as well as an identifier on the student's transcript. Participation in this program is voluntary for school districts.
- North Dakota
- Feb-19-2019
- The North Dakota Department of Public Instruction (NDDPI) is proud to announce the implementation of the North Dakota Seal of Biliteracy (NDSB) award program. The NDSB is an award presented to graduating students who have demonstrated proficiency in a language in addition to English.
  
  North Dakota joins more than half of the nation in awarding a Seal of Biliteracy. The NDSB is established to recognize students and provide an identifier of this accomplishment for employers and post-secondary institutions. The NDSB serves to inspire the implementation of biliteracy programs and pathways of language development in districts across the state and help districts demonstrate value in diversity/culture.
  
  The NDSB is awarded by the NDDPI according to the specific criteria presented in the attached guidance document. Each student will receive a physical foil seal on their high school diploma, a certificate from the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, and an identifier on the student's eTranscript. School district participation in the program is completely voluntary.
  
  Please review the attached documents and determine how this program could be implemented in the district. Additional information is available on the NDDPI website.
- Iowa
- Apr-18-2018
- Palm Beach School District has just approved the Seal of Biliteracy. Miami Dade School District approved it last week.
  - Dr. Andrés Ramírez
  Assistant Professor
  Curriculum, Culture and Educational Inquiry
  Florida Atlantic University
- Iowa
- Apr-18-2018
- New Jersey Governor Chris Christie approved a statewide Seal of Biliteracy. The legislation passed earlier this month by the New Jersey Senate (37-0) and New Jersey Assembly (72-2).
- Iowa
- Apr-18-2018
- Does anyone have any tools or strategies to assess less common languages? I wonder if there are easily-understood checklists that volunteers can use to assess student work?