May 26, 2020 — Congratulations to the Class of 2020 Seal of Biliteracy and Dual Language award recipients.
In a virtual ceremony held this month, close to 870 graduating seniors from across the district received the Seal of Biliteracy for their demonstrated mastery of multiple world languages – an all-time high for Duval County Public Schools.
Burmese, Haitian Creole, Latin, Spanish, and Turkish are just a few of the 25 different languages spoken among this year’s group of award recipients. Graduates achieved gold or silver award status based upon their level of mastery in speaking, listening, reading, and writing the studied languages.
Ceremony key note speaker Lorena Inclan, an anchor and reporter for Action News Jax, spoke to seal recipients about how being bilingual has enhanced her media career opportunities. Inclan urged the graduates to leverage their language skills in their future careers.
The Seal of Biliteracy is awarded by the school district to high school seniors who have studied and attained a high level of proficiency in one or more languages, in addition to English. Additional requirements to receive the seal include:
- Four credit hours of instruction in the same world language
- Standard high school diploma
- Grade point average of 3.0 or higher
Dual Language ceremony
Dual language learners in fifth and eighth grade classes were also recognized for their language skills by receiving the K-5 and K-8 Commitment Award for their hard work. Eighth-grade dual language graduates will enter high school having already satisfied their high school credits for world language.
Read more about the Seal of Biliteracy and Dual Language programs, and how they’re benefiting the community in Que Tal magazine: https://www.quetaljacksonville.com/edicion-n-25/ (p 48-51).
