California State Seal of Biliteracy

About the State Seal of Biliteracy

Assembly Bill 815 (effective 1/1/12) established the State Seal of Biliteracy for eligible high school seniors in California’s public schools. This law lists all criteria that a student must meet in order to demonstrate that they have attained a high level of proficiency in speaking, reading, and writing in English and one or more languages.

Assembly Bill 1142 (effective 9/1/17) replaced the criteria to demonstrate English proficiency with the current English language arts standard assessment for California. It also updated the requirement for language acquisition assessments for English learners and oral proficiency for languages other than English.

Assembly Bill 370 (effective 1/1/24) expanded the criteria to demonstrate English proficiency through various coursework and standardized assessments. It also updated the requirement for language acquisition assessments for English learners and proficiency options for languages other than English.

Eligibility

To be eligible for the State Seal of Biliteracy, students must meet criteria 1 and 2:

Demonstrate English proficiency through one of the following methods:

1. Complete all English language arts requirements for graduation with an overall grade point average of 3.0 or above in those classes.
2. Pass the California standards assessment at the “standards met” or above in English language arts (ELA) set for native English speakers at the 11th grade.
3. Score three or higher on the English Advanced Placement (AP) examination (English Language and Composition, English Literature or Composition, or Seminar).
4. Score four or higher on the International Baccalaureate (IB) English examination.
5. Score 480 or higher on the Evidenced-Based Reading and Writing section of the Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT).

Additional English Proficiency Requirement for English Learners Only: In addition to the requirements mentioned above, students who are classified as English learners must attain an oral language composite score of level 4 on the English Language Proficiency Assessments for California (ELPAC).

Demonstrate proficiency in one or more languages—in addition to English—by accomplishing one of the following:

1. Successfully complete a four-year course of study in a world language and attain an overall grade point average of 3.0 or above in that course of study at the high school or higher level, including oral proficiency.
2. Score three or higher on an Advanced Placement (AP) world language examination.
3. Score four or higher on an International Baccalaureate (IB) world language examination.
4. Score Intermediate Mid or higher on an ACTFL Writing Proficiency Test (WPT) and Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI).
5. Score at the “proficient” level or higher on a school district language examination that, at a minimum, assesses speaking, reading, and writing in a language other than English.

SCOE Language Exams

The Sacramento County Office of Education (SCOE) offers a language exam option for students who have no language course or assessment offered at their school. SCOE’s assessment process determines oral and written proficiency in the following languages: American Sign Language (ASL), Arabic, Armenian, Chinese, Dari, Farsi, French, German, Hindi, Hmong, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Lao, Pashto, Punjabi, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Tagalog, Tamil, Telugu, Turkish, Ukrainian, Urdu, and Vietnamese.

Resources

Recipient Recognition

Congratulations to all the students in Sacramento County who have earned the California State Seal of Biliteracy since the program launched for the 2012–13 school year!

Get in Touch

Graciela García-Torres

Director, Multilingual Education

(916) 228-2478 gtorres@scoe.net