State Recognition Program of Multiple Pathways to Biliteracy and State Seal of Biliteracy.

Existing law requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to award a State Seal of Biliteracy. Existing law provides that the State Seal of Biliteracy certifies attainment of a high level of proficiency by a graduating high school pupil in one or more languages, in addition to English, and certifies that the graduate meets specified criteria, including, but not limited to, passing the California Standards Test in English language arts administered in grade 11 at the proficient level or above. Existing law also requires a pupil in grades 9 to 12, inclusive, whose primary language is other than English, to meet these same requirements and to also attain the early advanced proficiency level on the English language development test in order to qualify for the State Seal of Biliteracy. This bill, to qualify for the State Seal of Biliteracy, would instead require a graduate to have passed a state-adopted, standards-aligned test in English language arts administered in grade 11 at the proficient level or above, except that for the 2014–15 school year, to have passed the most recently available state-adopted, standards-aligned English language arts test for that graduate at the proficient level or above. This bill also would establish the State Recognition Program of Multiple Pathways to Biliteracy to be administered annually by the State Department of Education beginning January 1, 2016, to recognize school districts and county offices of education that voluntarily demonstrate excellence in providing and supporting multiple opportunities for pupils to attain high achievement and linguistic biliteracy in grades 1 to 12, inclusive, through biliteracy programs, as specified. The bill would require this program to be implemented only to the extent moneys are available to the department for purposes of the program from any source.