Seal of Biliteracy

With the Language Opportunity Coalition, MATSOL led advocacy for the Massachusetts State Seal of Biliteracy, which was established under the LOOK Act of 2017. The Seal of Biliteracy recognizes graduates who speak, listen, read and write proficiently in another language in addition to English with a seal on the high school diploma. The purpose of the award is to promote long term foreign, native, and heritage language study, document achievement in biliteracy, and produce a biliterate, multicultural workforce. Massachusetts is the 29th state to establish the award. 

From 2014-2018, schools and school districts around Massachusetts are participating in a project to pilot the Seal of Biliteracy on the local level. In 2018, the third and final year of the pilot, more than 100 educators were participating in the Seal of Biliteracy workgroup, and 26 schools and school districts made 1,339 awards. See 2018 Seal of Biliteracy Pilot Data for a summary.

MATSOL continues to work with our colleagues in the Language Opportunity Coalition, including Multi-State Association for Bilingual Education (MABE) and Massachusetts Foreign Language Association (MaFLA), to support schools in implementing the Seal of Biliteracy and pathway awards, encourage collaboration between all language teachers, and advocate for equitable opportunities for English Learners and Former English Learners to earn the award.

More Information

Massachusetts
  • Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, MA State Seal of Biliteracy: www.doe.mass.edu/scholarships/biliteracy/
  • Seal of Biliteracy Massachusetts - LOC Biliteracy Pathway awards and implementation resources for implementing the awards: www.SealofBiliteracyMA.org 
  • Language Opportunity Coalition - State coalition advocating to increase language learning opportunities for learning English, native, heritage, and world languages, and to ensure that all learners have equal access to a high quality education and professional opportunities.
National
  • Seal of Biliteracy - Information about the SoBL across the United States.
  • Guidelines for Implementing the Seal of Biliteracy - Guidance from The American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL), the National Association of Bilingual Education (NABE), the National Council of State Supervisors for Languages (NCSSFL), and TESOL International Association.