Tag: Gold Standard

Set the Pace Before You Set the Curriculum: Using Early AAPPL Benchmarks to Start the School Year Strong

Every August, world language teachers begin the year with the same challenge: discerning where their students are today, including what they’ve learned last year, what they’ve inevitably forgotten over the summer, and how to help them make meaningful progress over the months ahead. The goal of Back-to-School planning isn’t to prove that students have already […]

From Uncertainty to Confidence: Building Clearer Pathways in World Language Learning

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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13 Language Proficiency and Assessments Myths Debunked

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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The Human Side of the Gold Standard: An Interview with an AAPPL Rater

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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Language Proficiency Assessments: Why Only the Gold Standard Counts

When it comes to measuring language proficiency, not all tests are created equally. Only ACTFL® assessments, delivered exclusively through Language Testing International® (LTI), produce ACTFL scores and certificates, credentials recognized globally by K-12 programs, universities, employers, and government agencies. Any ACTFL rating provided by a non-ACTFL assessment is not recognized by ACTFL. In other words, […]

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Educator’s Perspective: Walk, Then Run

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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