Seal of Bi-literacy for Tamil
Alpharetta Tamil School Seal of Bi-literacy in Tamil
What is it? It is an award for a high school student for being proficient in one or more languages in addition to English.
Who can earn this? Any high school student in the state of Georgia. Student should have completed all the requirements on English and have 3.0 or above grade.
What are the benefits? The Bi literacy Seal denotes that student is proficient in Tamil in addition to English.
A seal would be added to their high school transcript. Receiving a congratulatory letter from the Georgia Department of Education. This is useful for college admission and further employment.
Why now a Bi-literacy Seal in Tamil? The state of Georgia passed a law and adopted this Seal of Bi-literacy in 2016. Until now only a handful of languages were included in this. Tamil has been added to the list in 2018.
How can the student take the proficiency test in Tamil? The student needs to take a Tamil proficiency test offered by ONE of these (NOT Both) two testing agencies. ➢ ALTA ➢ Avant World Speak
What are the different types of tests and how it is done? There are two tests, speaking and writing. If the student takes the test with ALTA, a live evaluator would be on the phone to converse and evaluate the speaking skills. If the student is taking the test with Avant, it is a web-based test. The reading is recorded and the audio file is evaluated. Writing test is on paper.
What is the minimum score needed to earn the Seal? The student needs to score a minimum of 1+ in the ALTA exam or a score of 6 in the test conducted by Avant to earn the seal of bi-literacy.
When can the student take the test? The student can take the exam at any time during high school. The recommended year is 11th grade. (In case, if that student does not get 3.0 in English at the end of High school, they would not be eligible to get the seal. It will not impact anything on the transcript).
What they need to do? The student needs to contact the high school counselor who can administer the test.
Further Reading
DOE Seal of Biliteracy: http://www.gadoe.org/Curriculum-Instruction-and-Assessment/Curriculum-and-Ins truction/Pages/Georgia%27s-Seal-of-Biliteracy.aspx
Tamil Proficiency test: ALTA : https://www.altalang.com/language-testing/
Avant : https://avantassessment.com/worldspeak