My fellow educators and I did an interesting exercise at a workshop entitled “Chairing Your Department” that was both cynically eye-opening and kind of hilarious; they had us all put our schools’ description for what a successful graduate of ________ (insert whatever your school’s name is here) can do, the skills they’ve mastered, and the […]
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I’ve always been a left-brained math and science guy who loves rules, systems, and geometric proofs, which is why I’ve never quite understood my own proclivity towards the humanities, literature, storytelling, and languages. And yet, since the myth of brain hemispheres has long been debunked, why has no one exorcised the lingering haunts that foreign […]
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“So, if I just memorize all the vocabulary, I’ll be fine, right?” “Exactly how many questions will be on the quiz?” “I’m so cooked for this test; I don’t understand anything.” “How many sentences should I write?” I hear manifestations of anxiety like these all the time in the days leading up to an assessment. […]
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What is Perkins V? Perkins V (officially Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act) provides federal funding to states and local school districts to strengthen career and technical education (CTE). The legislation emphasizes raising both academic and technical outcomes for CTE students, improving alignment between secondary and postsecondary education, and increasing accountability. Through Perkins V, states and […]
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Across secondary and postsecondary education, world language programs are grappling with a familiar challenge: helping students understand what they can actually do with the language they are learning, and why it matters. Student feedback across a range of standardized assessments has surfaced recurring themes. Learners have signaled uncertainty about expectations, uneven confidence in their skills, […]
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When it comes to language proficiency, misconceptions are everywhere. From how proficiency is defined and developed to how it’s assessed, common myths can lead to inaccurate assumptions, flawed decisions, and missed opportunities. In a crowded landscape of tests, tools, and claims, not all approaches to measuring and understanding proficiency are created equal. Let’s separate myth […]
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Among many things that make AAPPL the Gold Standard for measuring performance toward proficiency is how it’s scored: student spoken and written submissions are evaluated by ACTFL-certified raters using rigorous protocols, so educators can trust the results and use them with confidence. Below, an AAPPL rater shares what it’s like to earn certification, stay calibrated, and score with a “what students can do” mindset. Read more: Are You Truly Assessing […]
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A Conversation with a Seal Practitioner Any time the phrase new initiative enters a department meeting, language teachers start running diagnostics in their heads. Time. Testing. Curriculum creep. Paperwork. ….meetings…. So rather than speculate about what the Seal of Biliteracy should do, I wanted to hear from someone who’s lived it. Andrea Hartle has taught Spanish in New Jersey public schools for more than twenty years […]
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Building an Ecosystem of Proficiency Across Multiple Language Programs As the recently promoted chair of our school’s World Languages department, I’ve been thinking a lot about the kind of culture I want to engender in our 13 teacher “found family.” Teachers are a weird bunch to manage, since most of our work time is spent in a classroom with […]
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It may have been a few years since your language department implemented an ACTFL assessment in the effort to better understand your students’ language ability. As a teacher whose school has just completed its pilot year of offering the AAPPL to our students, we are definitely still learning about how this new tool will affect […]
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