October 8, 2018
EDCAL 7
Record number of Seals of Biliteracy awarded
The California Department of Education
announced that a record 55,000 State Seals
of Biliteracy, which signify fluency in anoth-
er language, were awarded in 2017-18. That
means more graduating high school seniors
than ever before can read, write, and speak
at least two languages.
“I’m thrilled that so many of our stu-
dents are learning a second language that
will improve their cognitive abilities, better
prepare them for the global economy, and
broaden their horizons and understand-
ing of other cultures and nations,” said
Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom
Torlakson. “This is a great start in meeting
the goals of Global California 2030.”
Global California 2030 seeks to more
than triple the number of biliteracy seals
awarded to graduating seniors each year
to 175,000 in 2030; and to quadruple the
number of dual immersion programs from
about 400 in 2017 to 1,600 in 2030. The 55,000 State Seals of Biliteracy
awarded this year are more than five times
the number of biliteracy seals earned when
the program began in 2011-12, when about
10,000 students received the award.
In 2017-18, San Francisco Unified
School District awarded more than 700
State Seals of Biliteracy with the top three
languages being Mandarin (400), Spanish
(230) a