PROMOTING FOUNDATIONS IN BILITERACY: EDUCATORS’ REFLECTIONS ON INTRODUCING MULTILINGUAL STUDENTS AND FAMILIES TO THE SEAL OF BILITERACY IN THE ELEMENTARY CONTEXT

Abstract

The Seal of Biliteracy (SoBL) is an award given at high school graduation to students who demonstrate proficiency in reading, writing, listening, and speaking in English and another language. Though the SoBL was created as an advocacy initiative for multilingual learners (ML), gaps persist regarding ML’s awareness and readiness to demonstrate the required proficiency to obtain the award. Given the length of the instructional time needed to develop the level of language proficiency required for the award, it is critical that school districts engage MLs from the onset of their education in promoting the value of their multilingualism and biliteracy. This qualitative research study sought to better understand what elementary school English language development (ELD) teachers know about the SoBL before and after explicit training, and how these teachers subsequently chose to integrate information about the award at their schools. This study utilized the Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) Protocol (Langley and Associates, 2009) to pilot a 90-minute training with 16 elementary ELD educators, across three schools in a large urban school district in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. Results highlight that participants deepened their understanding of the proficiency required to achieve the award, as well as the benefits of the SoBL. Following the training, participants chose to introduce the SoBL to ML students and families in tandem with existing preparation activities for the annual English language proficiency assessment. Participants centered their lessons on establishing foundational understandings on the meaning of biliterate for students. Findings from this study highlight specific and actionable steps school districts can take to promote early awareness of the SoBL with MLs, and thus expand opportunities to develop a strong pipeline of future candidates for the award.