Pathways to the Seal of Biliteracy: Promoting Multilingualism in Elementary and Middle Schools

A roadmap for enhancing students' equitable access to biliteracy development

Monolingual ideologies have driven US educational policy for centuries. Despite the benefits of multilingualism, policies have often prioritized English and reduced children's access to their home languages. The "Seal of Biliteracy" is a language education policy that recognizes students' proficiency in two languages as a mechanism for nurturing students' bilingualism and growing the United States' multilingual capacity. Since its inception, the Seal of Biliteracy has become a national program that has been extended into elementary and middle schools as pathway awards-benchmarks signaling that younger students are on the pathway to receiving the Seal of Biliteracy.

Pathways to the Seal of Biliteracy provides foundational understandings, practical examples, and key levers necessary to help parents, educators, and policymakers understand and implement pathways to biliteracy in schools. Situating the program within broader bilingual, heritage, and world language education systems, Amy J. Heineke and Kristin J. Davin explain the history of bilingualism and language policy in US education, and they outline an accessible and equitable approach to developing successful pathway programs.

Pathways to the Seal of Biliteracy will be an invaluable tool for educators, stakeholders, and policymakers looking to nurture multilingualism, advance language programming, and help students achieve the Seal of Biliteracy.