Submitted by North Thurston Public Schools
This year, 71 North Thurston Public Schools students earned the Washington State Seal of Biliteracy! The Seal of Biliteracy is a way for students to earn credit and recognition for showing proficiency in a world language by passing a national exam.
Students in Washington have two ways to earn the Seal of Biliteracy:
- Earn four class-time credits and pass an approved proficiency assessment, OR
- Take an approved proficiency assessment and earn four competency-based credits
This means that both students who take a world language class to learn a language, and students who know or learn a world language outside of school, are eligible to show proficiency in their language and earn the Seal of Biliteracy.
We recently visited Timberline High School to hear from a few of their 23 students who earned the Seal of Biliteracy this year.
Hoang Tran: Vietnamese
Timberline senior Hoang Tran earned the Seal of Biliteracy in Vietnamese this school year. Hoang earned both high school language credit and the Seal of Biliteracy through competency-based testing for a language he already spoke—he and his family moved from Vietnam to Washington in 2012 when Hoang was in the second grade. “In my family, we all speak Vietnamese, so I practiced speaking with my parents and my siblings every day to prepare for the STAMP test,” Hoang said. In addition to earning competency-based credits in Vietnamese, Hoang also took three years of French at Timberline. “I want to be a travel nurse in the future, and I think being proficient in English, Vietnamese, and French will help me a lot in that field.”
Megan Kipp: French
Senior Megan Kipp also earned the Seal of Biliteracy this school year. “When I was signing up for classes my freshman year, I ended up in French because that’s where there was enough space for me to sign up,” said Megan. “I ended up really liking it and being really good at it.” Megan passed the STAMP exam her junior year, and completed her four class-time credits this year. “This process had made me want to keep learning about different languages and cultures, and hopefully travel to a French-speaking country someday soon.”
Eli Andino Herrera: Spanish
Like Hoang, Eli earned the Seal of Biliteracy through competency-based testing. Eli was born in Honduras where he grew up speaking Spanish. When Eli and his family moved to Washington when he was 8, Eli learned English in school. “It makes me proud to be able to show that I have Spanish proficiency in all four domains: listening, speaking, reading and writing,” Eli said. “It feels good to have something to show for my world language skills.” In his spare time, Eli is also learning Portuguese, which he hopes to one day use in his career or when he travels to a Portuguese-speaking country.
In addition to the Timberline earners, we had one Seal of Biliteracy earner from Envision Career Academy and one from Summit Virtual Academy, 28 from North Thurston High School, and 18 from River Ridge High School! One student, Ashley Cardenas from North Thurston High School, earned the Seal of Biliteracy in two languages: French and Spanish. Languages represented across the district include American Sign Language, French, German, Japanese, Marshallese, Russian, Spanish, Tagalog, and Vietnamese.
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