More than 200 Consolidated High School District 230 students from Amos Alonzo Stagg, Carl Sandburg and Victor J. Andrew High Schools recently received recognition for earning either a Seal of Biliteracy or a State Commendation Award. The Seal of Biliteracy is an award given in recognition of students who have attained proficiency in English and another world language by high school graduation.
The Seal is intended to inspire students to pursue biliteracy, recognize students who excel in language skills, and provide evidence of these achievements to future employers and college admissions offices. The Seal will be placed on a student’s academic transcript and their high school diploma, and they will be able to use it on their resumes in college and beyond. Students who earn the Seal qualify for two years of credit in that language at any Illinois post-secondary program.
According to Stagg French teacher Nitya Viswanath, “World language students, through four or more years of study, develop interpersonal skills that every employer wants to see. They can engage with customers and interact with team members in the target language. And if students can gain all of these skills in a second language, those skills transfer to their native language too, making them ideal candidates no matter what job they are seeking in their future.”
Students also earned a state commendation toward the Seal of Biliteracy and is given to students who demonstrate significant progress toward achieving a high level of proficiency in English and another language.
At Stagg High School in Palos Hills, 92% of students who took the Seal of Biliteracy test received either a Seal or Commendation; 148 tests were administered and 136 students earned recognition. In total, 101 Chargers earned a Seal and 35 were recognized with a Commendation.
Students were awarded the Seal in seven different languages: Arabic, French, German, Greek, Polish, Spanish, and Ukrainian. In addition, 18 students who earned the Seal in their home language also earned a second seal in a third language in a district taught languages: Spanish, German, Latin, or French.
Of the four languages taught at Stagg, (Spanish, German, Latin, French) 54 students earned a Seal and 34 earned a Commendation.
At Sandburg High School, 92 students earned a Seal, while 61 others earned a Commendation.
At Andrew High School, 14 students earned a Seal and 18 students were honored with a Commendation.
Sandburg’s Division Chair for World Languages Carl Coates said, “Both the Seal of Biliteracy and the Commendation towards Biliteracy are impressive feats for a high school student. It’s a nice carrot of anywhere between four and six years of hard work.”