Seal of Biliteracy

Will you qualify to earn the prestigious Seal of Biliteracy?

Western Tech has such a diverse population of students; dozens of languages are represented here.  Students who earn a 4 or 5 on the AP Spanish test can earn the prestigious Seal of Biliteracy at graduation – a seal on your diploma and a handsome medal to wear. 

However, if you can not take AP Spanish because of your schedule, you can still earn the Seal of Biliteracy by taking the STAMP Test in Feb. 2026.  Seniors should take it in order for the company to have enough time to grade it and for BCPS OWL to have enough time to distribute the Seal by graduation in May.  Maryland accepts the test in any grade level after 8th grade; this means that if you take a test in 10th grade, your score will still be good until the end of 12th grade for you to earn the Seal.  The test costs $200+, but for interested students who have earned a "proficient" score or higher on the MCAP ELA 10 (or 4.0+ on the WIDA ACCESS), BCPS OWL will cover the cost for free!  You must commit to taking the test by Fri., Nov. 14 by messaging Profesor Ruth ([email protected]).  (This is not a guarantee - we will see how much money OWL still has left.)

If you know another language at home and pass a certain test, you can earn the Seal of Biliteracy, too!   

The company Avant offers four-skill (reading, writing, listening, speaking) STAMP Tests for over 90% of BCPS students:  Arabic (Modern Standard), English, French, German, Hebrew, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin Chinese (Simplified), Mandarin Chinese (Traditional), Polish, (Brazilian) Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish.  The four parts of the test are:
o Reading:  30 multiple choice questions; 35-40 min.
o Listening:  30 multiple choice questions; 35-40 min.
o Writing:  3 prompts; 20-25 min.
o Speaking:  3 prompts; 20-25 min.
Avant also offers two-skill (writing, speaking) STAMP Tests for 37 less commonly tested languages for 5-7% of BCPS students:  Amharic, Armenian, Bengali, Cabo Verdean, Chaldean (speaking), Chin (Hakha), Chuukese, Czech, Filipino (Tagalog), Greek, Haitian Creole, Hawaiian (Olelo Hawai’i), Hmong, Ilocano, Kannada, Khmer, Marathi, Marshallese, Nepali, Pashto, Persian-Farsi, Punjabi, Samoan, Somali Maay Maay, Somali Maxaa, Swahili, Tamil, Telugu, Thai, Tigrinya, Turkish, Ukrainian, Urdu, Vietnamese, Yoruba, Yupiik, and Zomi.  

Avant may also be able to test in 90+ uncommon SuperLanguages for 2-3% of BCPS students:  Abkhazian*, Afaan Oromo, Albanian, Arabic (Algerian, Arab Gulf, Egyptian, Iraqi, Jordanian, Lebanese, Libyan, Moroccan, Palestinian, Sudanese, Syrian, Tunisian, Yemeni), Bambara/Bamanakan, Bikol, Bosnian, Burmese*, Cantonese, Catalan, Cebuano, Chăm, CHamoru (Chamorro), Danish, Dari, Dinka, Dutch, Dyula, Estonian, Ewe, Fiji Hindi, Fijian, Fulani, Georgian, Gujarati, Hausa, Hawaiʻi Creole, Herero (Otjiherero), Hungarian, Icelandic, Igbo, Ilonggo (Hiligaynon), Indonesian, Jamaican Patwah, Jingpho (Kachin)*, K’iche’, Kankanaey, Kapampangan (Pampango), Karen*, Kikuyu, Kinyarwanda (Kinyamulenge), Kirundi, Kosraean, Krio, Kunama, Lao, Latvian, Lingala, Lisan ud-Dawat, Lithuanian, Luganda (Ganda), Malay, Malayalam, Mandinka (Mandingo), Mixtec, Mongolian, Mortlockese, Norwegian (Bokmal, Nynorsk), Nuer, Nyanja (Chichewa), Odia (Oriya), Palauan (Palall), Pangasinan, Pohnpeian, Q’anjob’al, Romanian, Saho, Sanskrit, Shona, Sinhala (Sinhalese), Soninke, Swazi (siSwati), Swedish, Sylheti, Tatar, Tibetan (Bod-skad), Tok Pisin, Tongan, Twi, Uzbek, Visayan (Bisaya), Waray-Waray, Wolof, Yapese, Zigula. (* temporarily unavailable as of November 2025.)

In addition to the above language, Avant tests for ASL / American Sign Language (it's different from the ASLPI and other ASL tests in that it's for learners, not for those who want to become interpreters).
 


Summer is a perfect time for you to work on taking the test for your language.  Click here for more information on tests for the Maryland “Seal of Biliteracy”.  And click here to listen to a very informative podcast done of three Western Tech students in 2024 after they earned the Seal in French, Spanish, and Arabic (on the previous AAPPL Test, similar to the current STAMP Test).

When you are ready to pay for the proficiency test, let Profesor Ruth know ([email protected]) so that you can arrange a mutually convenient 90-min. appointment with him as your proctor for your 30-min. listening and speaking test (by phone with a native speaker) and the 60-min. reading and writing test (under Profe's supervision in his classroom).  If OWL funding has run out, your parents can click here to go to the Online School Payment Portal to pay for the test; after going to "High" School and "Western School of Tech HS," look for "Seal of Biliteracy" and select the company that you want. 

There will be a one-time-only informational session during Tutoring Tuesday on November 11; sign up for it to hear more.  To commit to the AAPPL Test, you must message Profesor Ruth ([email protected]) by Friday, November 14.  No tests will be ordered after that date.  

Request to become a member of the Seal of Biliteracy Group on Schoology so you can receive weekly tips for the STAMP Test.