C&I’s King and Schwedhelm publish research on the policy behind state seals and certificates of biliteracy in Minnesota

News
March 10, 2020

Professor Kendall King and doctoral student Maria Schwedhelm in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction recently published research in the journal Foreign Language Annals addressing the findings of a study spanning three years on the recent implementation of state seals and certificates of biliteracy in Minnesota schools.

Minnesota is one of 38 states to have passed seals and certificates of biliteracy legislation since 2011. The legislation is often positioned as a means to promote foreign language learning in English speakers, as well as to recognize the heritage language abilities of English learners. However, new research implies that the access to seals is unequal across high schools and largely dependent on school district funding, and little is known to date about how the seals function as language education policy.

King and Schwedhelm spent three years reviewing policies around the seals, and interviewing teachers, school administrators, and education leaders across Minnesota. They found that the number of students being awarded the biliteracy seals is increasing, but access to seals is uneven across school districts and among the languages offered. Furthermore, they discovered that the usefulness of the seals to the students is often unknown. The seals are viewed as a way for students to competitively position themselves in the job market, and for school districts, the seals are a low-investment option to appear committed to diversity. The seal legislation in Minnesota is positioned as a way to decrease inequalities between students, but without state funding, there is fear, Schwedhelm and King say, that district funding to the seals might increase inequalities by diverting other necessary resources for language-marginalized students.

Schwedhelm and King note that while the number of seals awarded each year is rising, there is need for more funding and pedagogical investments in order for the seals to have more than symbolic value.