Waterford Today

At its June 5 board meeting, the Pontiac City School District honored 25 of its students with the Michigan Seal of Biliteracy.

The seal is given to high school students who are fluent in a language other than English.

“The Seal has been created to encourage students to study world languages and embrace their native and heritage languages,” according to the Michigan Department of Education. The seal can serve as a notice to colleges and future employers that the student has been certified with a level of proficiency in a second language.

Superintendent Kelley Williams said she was notified last month from Dr. Michael F Rice, the state superintendent, that the students met the criteria for receiving the commendation in English and Spanish by demonstrating language proficiency at or above the intermediate-high level of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages Proficiency Guidelines.

“You join a growing group of peers around the state with a high level of language proficiency who are receiving the Michigan Seal of Biliteracy,” Williams said. “We hope that this recognition of you and your accomplishment will add to positive evidence of your career and college readiness. The Michigan Seal of Biliteracy is a designation that can be highlighted on applications for jobs, college or graduate school for a lifetime. Congratulations again on receiving this honor and we look forward to many opportunities the Michigan Seal of Biliteracy may bring to you.”

This was the district’s first year participating in the state program, with the students hailing from the International Technology Academy (ITA). The ITA is a project-based STEM and honors program in the district that provides “academically and ethnically diverse experiences in which students use critical thinking and collaboration skills to become global citizens with integrity and professionalism.”

Williams added that the honor is special because 33% of the student population are English language learners.

“We take pride in the Pontiac School District to ensure that our bilingual department and staff supports our English language learners,” Williams said. “I celebrate and I salute the school's high school as well as ITA program for enlisting and supporting our English language learners. I also celebrate our parents for ensuring that your students are coming to school to learn and to be successful in becoming proficient in English as well as in Spanish.”

Dr. Ruben Alicea, director of Bilingual Programs in the district, and several other administrators working in biliteracy, introduced all the students by name and gave them their certificates and awards of recognition from the board. There were 23 students who were recognized for biliteracy in English and Spanish, and two students were recognized for biliteracy in English and Chinese. In order to achieve the designation, all students passed an exam of written, reading and speaking comprehension in their second language.