With all 50 states and the District of Columbia now allowing high school graduates to earn a seal that signals their mastery of English and another world language, a new report takes a look at state-by-state data on who’s earning this distinction.
The number of seal of biliteracy awards is on the upswing, according to the latest available data. There were 158,384 seal recipients in the 2022-23 school year, up from 147,937 in 2021-22. And students are earning the seal for mastery of a greater number of languages.
But the seal is much more common in some states than others, and those championing the seal are also keeping an eye on the proportion of seals going to current and former English learners and U.S.-born students.
Here’s a look in charts at the types of students earning the seal of biliteracy, where they’re located, and the languages for which they’re earning the distinction.
Where students are earning the seal of biliteracy
California, where the seal of biliteracy began more than a decade ago as a grassroots campaign to honor the linguistic skills of English learners, still accounts for the greatest number of seal recipients out of the 44 states that contributed data for 2022-23. The Golden State accounted for almost 38 percent of seal of biliteracy awards, with Florida accounting for the second greatest number.
Samuel Aguirre, a co-author of the report, was pleased to see an increase in the number of states reporting seal data. That figure rose from 39 to 44 between the 2021-22 and 2022-23 school years.
Students are earning the seal for a greater number of languages
States that provided data broke down their figures to show how many languages were represented among graduates. Overall, graduates earned seals for a greater number of languages in 2022-23: 143 languages, up from 127 the prior year.
How many seal recipients are current and former English learners?
Not all states reporting data on seal recipients broke down their numbers to show how many had ever been English learners in their K-12 education and how many were students who never required English-language instruction.
It’s a breakdown that researchers and educators alike say is important so schools and state education officials can track whether a distinction that started out as a way to recognize English learners is still within reach for that population of students.
Among the states that did provide data breaking down whether seal recipients had ever been English learners, New Mexico led the way in the percentage of seals that went to current and former English learners. Two-thirds of that state’s seal recipients had been English learners at some point in their K-12 careers, compared with 40 percent nationwide.
The state has intentionally worked to ensure these students have access to the assessments that they need to demonstrate their proficiency in languages other than English.
