The Seal of Biliteracy (SoBL) is a policy that recognizes biliterate high school graduates with an emblem placed on their diploma or transcript signifying proficiency in two or more languages. The present study focused on 12th grade students' perceptions of the SoBL to investigate the questions: How do students perceive bilingualism and…

The United States is becoming a more culturally and linguistically diverse nation. This is especially true when we look at the youngest generation of learners. This growing diversity increases the need to accurately identify young children as dual language learners (DLLs) prior to kindergarten. Ensuring educators have a strong understanding of…

This paper deals with the history and practices of the language assessment policy being used by the state of Illinois' transitional bilingual education programs serving over 42,000 students. The first section of the paper treats the history of bilingual program evaluation efforts. It divides the discussion into three periods, prior to 1976, from…