Congratulations to five Dumas High School students (Pictured: Lindsey, Magana, Esmeralda, Medina, Leslie Mondragon. Not pictured: Rosario, Trujillo and Oscar Zuniga)! These students have earned the Arkansas Seal of Biliteracy for demonstrating proficiency in English and Spanish by High School graduation.
Adopted first by California in 2011, the Seal of Biliteracy is now recognized in 49 states and Washington DC. According to the official website, "the Seal of Biliteracy encourages students to pursue biliteracy, honors the skills our students attain, and can be evidence of skills that are attractive to future employers and college admissions offices." Since the 2017 pilot year in Arkansas a total of 4,777 students from 100 High Schools around the state have attained this certification across twenty- four languages other than English (Arabic, Bengali, Chinese, Filipino, French, German, Gujarati, Hakha Chin, Hindi, Hmong, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Marathi, Marshallese, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Spanish, Tamil, Turkish, Urdu, and Vietnamese).
The Arkansas Seal of Biliteracy is awarded each spring and fall to students in grades 9 through 12 and is sponsored by the Arkansas Foreign Language Teachers Association (AFLTA) and the Arkansas Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (ARKTESOL). The Arkansas Department of Education officially endorsed the Seal in June 2018.
Congratulations students! It is a great day to be a Bobcat! #EverythingMatters #GoCatsGo