NOTE: Due to the complexity of the State Seal of Biliteracy requirements, all results should be manually verified for accuracy.
The State Seal of Biliteracy screen will allow you to identify the 12th grade students that may qualify or do qualify for this award. It is available while logged in at the School level. At the end of the school year the form can be used to add Activities and Awards (ACT) records for the students that qualified. The ACT records are used in the CALPADS collection of State Seal of Biliteracy recipients.
The screen has been updated to use the most recent Procedures for Awarding the State Seal of Biliteracy. Below is a summary of the qualifications. We highly recommend that everyone involved in the State Seal of Biliteracy data collection and implementation become familiar with all requirements and procedures. More information can be found on the California Department of Education’s State Seal of Biliteracy page at: http://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/el/er/sealofbiliteracy.asp.
To qualify for the State Seal of Biliteracy, high school graduates must meet all of the following criteria:
Section I: Eligibility Criteria for a Student Whose Primary Language is English
Each of these three academic requirements shall be fulfilled.
- Students must have completed all English-language arts (ELA) requirements for graduation with an overall grade point average (GPA) of 2.0 or above in those classes.
- Students must have passed the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) in ELA (administered in grade eleven), or any successor test, administered in grade eleven, at or above the “standard met” achievement level, or at the achievement level determined by the State Superintendent of Public Instruction (SSPI) for any successor test.
- Students must demonstrate proficiency in one or more languages other than English through one of the following methods:
- Pass a foreign language Advanced Placement (AP) exam, including American Sign Language, with a score of three or higher.
- ** Pass an International Baccalaureate (IB) examination with a score of four or higher.
- Successfully complete a four-year high school course of study in a foreign language and attain an overall grade point average of 3.0 or above in that course of study, and demonstrate oral proficiency in the language comparable to that required to pass an AP or IB examination.
- ** If no AP examination or off-the-shelf language test exists and the district uses its own language examination, the school district must certify to the SSPI that the test meets the rigor of a four-year high school course of study in that foreign language and, at a minimum, assesses speaking, reading, and writing. If a student seeks to qualify for the SSB through a language that is not characterized by listening, speaking, or reading, or for which there is no written system, the student must pass an assessment on the modalities that characterize communication in that language at the proficient level or higher.
- ** If a district offers a language examination in a language in which an AP examination or off-the-shelf examination exists, the district language examination must be approved by the SSPI.
- Pass the Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT) II foreign language exam with a score of 600 or higher.
Section II: Eligibility Criteria for a Student Whose Primary Language is not English
If the primary language of a pupil is other than English, the student shall also meet the following academic requirements:
- Attain the level demonstrating English language proficiency on the English Language Proficiency Assessments for California (ELPAC), or any successor English language proficiency assessment, in transitional kindergarten or kindergarten through grade twelve, inclusive.
- Meet the academic requirements 1, 2, and 3 as stated above in Section I.
NOTE: The requirements listed with ** cannot be determined by running this process, they must be determined manually.
NOTE:
For the 2021-22 Graduates: students must pass the 11th grade CAASPP ELA assessment with a score of Standard Met or above, or they need to pass a locally determined 11th grade ELA assessment with a score equivalent to the Standard Met or above on the CAASPP. For more information go to https://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/el/er/ssbfaq.asp.
For the 2020-21 Graduates: 11th grade CAASPP ELA was not a State Seal of Biliteracy requirement for the 2020-21 graduates. For more information go to https://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/el/er/ssbfaq.asp.
NOTE: Due to the complexity of the State Seal of Biliteracy requirements, all results should be manually verified for accuracy.