Language Immersion

The Minnesota legislature passed Statute 120B.022 subd. 1b, which states that school districts in Minnesota may award bilingual or multilingual seals and world language proficiency certificates to graduating high school students who demonstrate certain levels of proficiency in reading, writing, speaking and listening in a language other than English as measured by an approved language proficiency assessment.

Recognition

You have worked hard to develop a high level of proficiency in another language. This is your opportunity to highlight that accomplishment on your high school transcript. Earning a World Language Proficiency Certificate or adding a Bilingual/Multilingual Seal to your transcript shows colleges/universities and employers that you are proficient in a language (or languages) in addition to English. Because the assessments used to measure proficiency are based on the National Standards for Foreign Language Learning, the scores can be interpreted in a uniform way across institutions.

Earn college/university credits

You can earn free college credits from 26 colleges and 7 universities in the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system by taking an approved proficiency assessment during grades 10-12 and demonstrating proficiency in a language other than English. You must request credits within three academic years of high school graduation and upon enrollment in a Minnesota State college or university. Credits are awarded as follows:

• World Language Proficiency Certificate: 2 semesters of college language credit per language
• Gold Bilingual or Multilingual Seal: 3 semesters of college language credit per language
• Platinum Bilingual or Multilingual Seal: 4 semesters of college language credit per language

Colleges outside of the Minnesota State College and Universities system (e.g., the University of Minnesota, private colleges, and institutions in other States) will use their own institution’s criteria for awarding credits for language proficiency seals.

You will need to complete one of the qualifying assessments and receive a score that meets the criteria for a certificate or a seal, as shown in the chart below.

Students must also successfully complete all English Language Arts credits required for high school graduation and demonstrate mastery of Minnesota’s English language proficiency standards. 

Please note:  Students in Juntos and XinXing who took the AP exam in 9th grade in 2020 CANNOT use this score to qualify for a Bilingual Seal because that exam only assessed one skill area. If you want to qualify for a seal, you will need to take the STAMP 4S on March 14, 2023, or retake the AP test in May 2023.

For all languages other than ASL, students must demonstrate proficiency in reading, writing, listening, and speaking in order to be eligible to receive a world language proficiency certificate or a bilingual/multilingual seal.

Yes, a separate assessment will be required if you are a College in the Schools student and you want to earn a certificate or seal on your transcript. The University of Minnesota College in the Schools courses do not include one of the State of Minnesota’s qualifying language proficiency assessments. However, you may choose to take the STAMP 4S assessment or AP language exam in the Spring of your senior year to demonstrate your language proficiency level and earn a certificate or seal. Whether or not you choose to take an assessment to earn a certificate or seal, you will earn 4-5 U of M credits for each College in the Schools course that you complete. Those credits can be used at the U of M or may be transferred to other colleges and universities in Minnesota or to colleges and universities in other States.

If you have any questions, please contact your counselors.

Take a look at the STAMP 4S Benchmark and Rubric Guide to see what you need to be able to do at each level of language proficiency. The first section of the page describes benchmarks for reading and listening. The second section describes benchmarks for writing and speaking.

Assessment fees are usually $30-$50 per scholar per language, depending on the assessment.

Please stay tuned for more details, scholars, and families will be contacted for payment.

Students must also successfully complete all English Language Arts credits required for high school graduation and demonstrate mastery of Minnesota’s English language proficiency standards.

For more detailed information and non-AP language assessment preparation tips, please see this slide deck.