At a ceremony on April 18 at Folsom High School, the Sacramento County Office of Education (SCOE) officially recognized students for their linguistic accomplishments of attaining a high level of proficiency in English and another language.
Throughout the county, more than 1,600 high school seniors received the State Seal of Biliteracy award, which was established by California Assembly Bill 815. The seal is awarded to seniors who have demonstrated English competency, as well as competency in another language by meeting specific criteria.
In order to earn the seal, students must demonstrate English competency by scoring proficient on an English Language Arts assessment and excel in high school English classes required for high school graduation. In addition, students demonstrate competency in another language by taking four years of a world language or passing a language test such as the Advanced Placement exam.
In addition to English, this year’s Seal of Biliteracy recipients in Sacramento County are proficient in 23 other languages, including: American Sign Language, Arabic, Armenian, Cantonese, Dari, Farsi, French, German, Hebrew, Hindi, Hmong, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latin, Mandarin, Punjabi, Russian, Spanish, Tagalog, Ukrainian, Urdu, and Vietnamese. Several students earned Seals in multiple languages.
The following Sacramento County school districts and independent charter schools collaborated in this year’s Seal of Biliteracy program: Center U.S.D., Folsom Cordova U.S.D., Elk Grove U.S.D., Futures High School, Galt Joint Union High S.D., Heritage Peak Charter School, Natomas U.S.D., River Delta U.S.D., Sacramento City U.S.D., San Juan U.S.D., Twin Rivers U.S.D., and Visions in Education.