Lesley Chapman, OFLA President-Elect, Sycamore City Schools

As we turn the page of the calendar and enter 2019, many of us are looking ahead to the spring and to testing for the State of Ohio Seal of Biliteracy. I tested my students last year and was pleased to find that the majority of them were successful. I have used the results of the Seal testing to focus on areas of my program that might need more attention. It is also a very useful tool for encouraging students to remain in their language classes through their junior or senior years of high school since testing must occur within 14 months of graduation.

If you are interested in testing this year, I would suggest going to the ODE website. Here is the link to their Seal of Biliteracy page which explains who is eligible and what they need to do to attain the acknowledgment: http://education.ohio.gov/Topics/Learning-in-Ohio/Foreign-Language/Ohio-Seal-of-Biliteracy

Remember, testing must be done within a specific time frame (within 14 months of graduation), and only certain tests are accepted by ODE. The list of these tests is in the ODE site, along with the minimum scores accepted for each one.

OFLA has reached out to the testing companies “Avant Assessments” and “Language Testing International” (LTI) in order for Ohio schools to benefit from a discount on their testing services. You can find more information about the tested languages and the test requirements on their websites: Avant Assessment’s STAMP test: https://avantassessment.com/stamp4s and LTI’s AAPPL2.0 test: https://www.languagetesting.com/aappl. Each company charges $17.50 per student for testing the four modes of communication (listening, speaking, reading, writing).

If you are interested in using STAMP test, send an email to Nicole Hines nicole.hines@avantassessment.com and let her know that you are affiliated with OFLA. She will set you up with the STAMP test.

If you are interested in using the AAPPL2.0 test (or ALIRA for Latin), send an email to Andrew Bowen abowen@languagetesting.com and let him know that you are affiliated with OFLA. He will set you up with the AAPPL2.0 test.

We wish you and your students the best of luck!