In the first year St. Francis Area Schools offered the Bilingual Proficiency Assessment to seniors, a total of nine students earned a special recognition and college credit.
This year, Spanish assessments were piloted with the hope to expand language choices next year. If a student earns a Bilingual Seal or the World Language Proficiency Certificate, they also receive college credit that applies to many participating colleges and universities in Minnesota. Of the SFAS students who earned a Bilingual Seal, some earned four semesters of world language credits and some earned two semesters.
What are the certificates and seals?: The Minnesota World Language Proficiency Certificate and Bilingual and Multilingual Seals were created by the state of Minnesota as an official recognition of students who have demonstrated the required levels of language proficiency through assessment in languages other than English. There are three award levels that denote specific language abilities (Bilingual Platinum Seal, Bilingual Gold Seal or the World Language Proficiency Certificate), and students who prove their proficiency have a notation entered on their high school transcript to reflect their functional abilities in the language.
Additionally, college credit can be awarded to these students who attend or transfer to Minnesota State Colleges and Universities and select other post-secondary institutions within three years of graduation.