Seal Of Biliteracy
Illinois State Seal of Biliteracy
Information for Students and Families
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Oak Lawn Community High School is proud to offer the Illinois State Seal of Biliteracy to qualifying OLCHS students who demonstrate a high level of proficiency in one or more languages in addition to English.
The Seal of Biliteracy is awarded to those who demonstrate proficiency in English and whose second language proficiency level is equivalent to Intermediate-High, as determined by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL).
The State Seal is awarded to high school seniors and appears as a seal on their diplomas and official transcripts to certify that the student is biliterate in English and one or more languages. A biliterate person can read, write, speak, and understand another language.
The benefits to achieving this honor include:
- Earning college credit in Illinois and possibly other states
- Distinguishing your resume and college application
- Earning scholarship and career opportunities
- Understanding your proficiency to set advanced language goals
To qualify for the Seal of Biliteracy students must demonstrate proficiency in:
- English by earning a minimum score of 480 on the Evidence-Based Reading and Writing (EBRW) portion of the SAT (or other approved measure).
- Another language by earning a minimum score of I-5 on the AAPPL (ACTFL’s Assessment of Performance Toward Proficiency in Languages) Exam (or other approved measure).
The complete list of language assessments and qualifying scores can be found here: https://www.isbe.net/Documents/language-proficiency-assessment-list.pdf
Seal of Biliteracy testing for Spanish and Arabic occurs in Advanced World Languages coursework. Families of biliterate students who are not currently enrolled in World Languages courses are welcome to submit qualifying test scores taken through outside programs (e.g. Akademia Dziedzictwa or other cultural organizations).