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 French and 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 because of your schedule, you can still earn the Seal of Biliteracy by taking the AAPPL Test  (Remember, that is the test that you took in 7th grade) on Wed., Feb. 26, 2025.  Seniors should take it by April 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 $209, but BCPS has a deal for $20!  In fact, on a first-come, first-served basis, OWL has limited funding to pay for your test, but you must commit to it by Fri., Nov. 15 by messaging Profesor Ruth ([email protected]).  (This is not a guarantee - we will see how much money OWL still has left.)

If you took the AAPPL last year and scored high on some sections but not others, you can retake only the low sections this year to try to score higher. 

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

The company LTI offers AAPPL Tests for:  Arabic, (Mandarin) Chinese, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish

LTI also offers OPI/WPT Tests for less common languages:  Albanian, Bangla, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Cantonese, Croatian, Dari, Gujarati, Haitian Creole, Hebrew, Hindi, Malayalam, Pashto, Polish, Swahili, Tagalog, Tamil, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Urdu, Vietnamese, and Yoruba.  The OPI/WPT test costs $209, but BCPS has a deal for $55!  (OWL does not have funding to pay for students on this test.)

These are only some of the languages that qualify for the Seal of Biliteracy.  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.

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 an dspeaking 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 12; sign up for it to hear more.  To commit to the AAPPL Test, you must message Profesor Ruth ([email protected]) by Friday, November 15.  No tests will be ordered after that date.