State and Global Seal of Biliteracy

Greek School Online is pleased to announce their partnership with ALTA and is offering a home testing option for the State and Global Seal Of Biliteracy tests. 

ALTA Language Services has more than 30 years of experience providing language and cultural solutions to businesses, government agencies and nonprofit organizations. The company provides language proficiency testing to High School students in more than 90 languages, including low-density languages that are often unavailable from other providers. This testing is done in conjunction with school districts throughout the United States to recognize the achievements of students who are fluent in more than one language.

ALTA’s Tests

ALTA partners with hundreds of school districts across the country to verify language skills of students seeking the Seal of Biliteracy. Results for these tests are provided on the Interagency Language Roundtable (ILR) Scale.

ALTA’s Tests

Oral Proficiency

This test is designed to assess a student’s speaking and listening skills. The test is conducted over the phone between an evaluator and student, wherein the evaluator will ask a variety of open-ended questions designed to prompt the student to use the language in a variety of ways. This test lasts approximately 15 – 25 minutes. Practice questions are available to familiarize yourself with the test.

Writing Proficiency

This test is designed to assess a student’s ability to write in a given language. The student must also demonstrate the necessary reading skills to process and respond to written questions. Students must answer five questions, typically with at least 100 words per answer, and the test will take up to one hour to complete. This is a paper test, typically administered directly by the school. Practice questions are available to familiarize yourself with the test.

The Seal of Biliteracy

The Seal of Biliteracy is a credential awarded to students who demonstrate, through a variety of requirements, including language testing, proficiency in two or more languages by the time of high school graduation. So far 36 states have adopted the Seal of Biliteracy since its inception in 2011, and that number continues to increase each year. The Seal of Biliteracy may help students obtain college credit in the tested language and may also be used as evidence of a language skill for potential employers after graduation. The credential typically appears as a seal on the diploma or transcript of the graduating student.

Global Seal of Biliteracy?

If your state is not offering the Seal Of Biliteracy certification, ALTA tests qualify for the Global Seal of Biliteracy and provide opportunities to award meaningful language credentials to deserving language learners. The Global Seal is an independent and separate program from state Seal of Biliteracy programs that certifies the language skills for all qualifying applicants, including those who have already graduated from high school, but would like to document their language skills for academic or work purposes. The Global Seal offers a transferable college credit option and can be used in partnership with state Seals to provide benchmark awards or an alternative award to language learners above or below state Seal criteria. 

The Global Seal of Biliteracy’s qualified tests are scored on one of two language testing scales, the ACTFL scale and the CEFR Scale.

Please note: ALTA only works with school districts and educational organizations. For more Information and testing schedule please contact: katerina@greekschoolonline.org