Thirteen Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts students earned the Arkansas Seal of Biliteracy by demonstrating proficiency in English and at least one other language before graduating high school.
The Arkansas Seal of Biliteracy is awarded each spring and fall to students in ninth through 12th grades and is sponsored by the Arkansas Foreign Language Teachers Association and the Arkansas Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages. The Arkansas Department of Education officially endorsed the seal in June 2018.
There were 250 high school students from 16 Arkansas school districts and charter, private or virtual schools and home schoolers who earned the recognition in the fall.
ASMSA students who earned recognition this fall include:
- Elijah Holland, a senior from Clarksville — Spanish;
- Jacob Holmes, a senior from Rector — French;
- Yibing Hu, a senior from Jonesboro — Chinese;
- David Huang, a senior from Little Rock — Chinese;
- Catherine Kwon, a senior from Little Rock — Chinese;
- Steven Lynch, a senior from Scranton — Spanish;
- Annette Perez, a senior from Searcy — Spanish;
- Hynuseo Seok, a senior from Jonesboro — Korean;
- Annabel Spayde, a senior from Conway — French;
- Nina Thomas, a senior from Hot Springs — German;
- Gladwin Tony, a senior from Hot Springs — Hindi;
- Kenneth Ventress, a senior from Benton — French; and
- Tracy Yang, a senior from Marianna — Chinese.
Students who apply for the Seal of Biliteracy must complete an application in which they submit evidence of their proficiency in both languages. Students can use their seal of recognition on college and job applications to show future employers and admissions offices that they are proficient in two or more languages. The seal is notional recognized. As of 2019, 35 states have an official Seal of Biliteracy and 12 more were on their way to having their own seal, according to information from the Arkansas Seal of Biliteracy Committee.
ASMSA’s efforts to help the students earn their seal were led by French instructor Bryan Adams. He said the recognition shows the dedication and hard work the students placed in the process.
“As an educational tool, it gives students even more of an incentive for not just getting their feet we in a language by encouraging them to dig deep into levels of proficiency,” he said. “Attaining it is clear evidence that the individual is able to navigate capably in both English and the other tested language.
“It would generally be agreed that it would take about four years of classroom study before a student might even consider testing for the biliteracy exam. For French here at ASMSA, we have had students do it in only one year of study. That credit does not go to me, though! The student I have in mid put in a great deal of work.”
For more information on the program, visit arbiliteracy.org.