Getting the Whole Picture: How Language Education Fits into the Portrait of a Graduate

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 traits they’ve developed.

And then, one by one, the instructor called out a list of the buzziest of buzzwords, asking us to cross the word out if we had it in our description. Wouldn’t you know, by the end of the exercise, no one had any legible words left!

That’s how universal, ubiquitous, and uniform this concept of depicting the ideal alumni is for educators; just walk into just about any school today and you’ll see some version of it: a polished infographic labeled “Portrait of a Graduate.” Continue reading

“Trust Us” Isn’t Enough: Why Third-Party COPPA Certification Matters

Schools Need More Than Privacy Claims from EdTech Providers

As schools continue expanding their use of digital learning tools and online assessments, one question is becoming impossible to ignore:

How do educators know which platforms truly protect student privacy?

That question is especially important when younger learners are involved. Schools are increasingly expected to evaluate not only whether a tool is effective, but whether it responsibly handles student data and safeguards children online. Continue reading

Transform Bilingual Pay from Cost Center to Competitive Advantage

International meeting

How language verification helps organizations maximize ROI, strengthen retention, and unlock the full value of multilingual talent.

By Marilyn Burgos, MS, CDMP, and Renée Tarrant

As the U.S. workforce becomes more diverse, many employers offer a bilingual pay differential to attract, hire and retain bilingual talent.

Bilingual employees connect their organizations with the diverse communities they serve across sectors like healthcare, manufacturing, government, banking, transportation, and customer support.

Businesses value multilingual communication skills as a competitive advantage. According to ACTFL, 90% of U.S. employers rely on employees with language skills beyond English, and 56% expect demand for multilingual talent to increase over the next five years.

Employers are recognizing that multilingual demand is rising. Many are adopting new bilingual pay policies and most are revisiting and updating the ones in place to meet changing workforce needs. With these investments growing, many leaders are asking a critical question:

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Bridging Care and Communication: How a Language Micro-Credential Transforms Nursing Education

Note: This article was written based on a recorded interview with Dr. Lucia Osa-Melero, Associate Professor and Director of the Center for Hispanic Studies at Duquesne University.

It was more than fifteen years ago when a simple question sparked what would become a transformative partnership at Duquesne University: Could nursing students take an elective in Spanish for medical purposes?

Posed by the School of Nursing to what was then the Department of Modern Languages and Literature, that question planted the seed that grew into a full-blown, three-semester micro-credential course and a model for how language education can directly support workforce readiness in healthcare.

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FMCSA English Enforcement: What Fleets Must Know

FMCSA Truck inspection to prevent violations involving large trucks and buses

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA)’s main objective is to reduce violations involving large trucks and buses. To support this initiative, last year, Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy signed an executive order that made English proficiency for commercial drivers a top priority. While this requirement has long existed under 49 CFR §391.11(b)(2), recent enforcement since 2025 has shifted by emphasizing English proficiency as a safety-critical standard that will now be actively evaluated during roadside inspections.

Federal regulations require interstate drivers to understand traffic signs, communicate effectively during inspections, and complete required documentation in English. This approach ensures English proficiency is a consistent focus during FMCSA roadside inspections.

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Why Language Is STEM. Redefining Education as Math, Engineering, Language, Technology, and Science (MELTS)

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 language proficiency is something attained only through creativity, tone, pattern recognition, emotional intelligence, culture, music, stories, and all the other skills, features and functions we associate with the soft sciences and humanities? In the past decade, educators have put a lot of stock, importance, and in many cases inordinate funding, into STEM—a clever acronym that pulls together science, tech, engineering, and mathematics—but somehow, linguistics and language learning has been shortsightedly left out. Continue reading

Did You Read the Directions? Five Ways to Lower Test Anxiety.

“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. And don’t get me started on test days. The panic in the room, the discomfort, the innumerable questions, the pleading looks of “am I doing this right?” And the stress level just keeps increasing every year. Anxiety is on the rise, and performance-based assessments are no help in this regard. Continue reading

From Classroom to Career: Meeting Perkins V Outcomes with Language Proficiency and ACTFL Credentials

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 communities can advance their own CTE priorities, such as supporting students from early career exploration through career preparation, while responding to evolving workforce and economic demands. 

Perkins V is meant to answer one big question: 

Are students leaving school with skills they can actually use for jobs or further training? 

Perkins V is not for general education alone. It also prioritizes : 

  • Career pathways 
  • Workforce preparation 
  • Skills that employers value 
  • Meaningful credentials for career success 

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State-by-State Requirements for the Seal of Biliteracy

all humans qualify for attaining a seal of biliteracy

It is essential for school administrators and educators to provide learners with the best educational opportunities. Understanding your state’s unique guidelines and eligibility criteria ensures students take the right assessments to complete the requirements for the Seal of Biliteracy.

For high school students who have achieved proficiency in English and at least one other language upon graduation, the Seal of Biliteracy is an award that can support them in obtaining scholarships, studying abroad, and pursuing more career options.

This guide explores the state-by-state requirements for the Seal of Biliteracy and how implementing the program at your school can provide students with valuable opportunities.Continue reading

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, and difficulty connecting classroom learning to real-world outcomes. These signals point to a broader opportunity for world language programs: to make language development more transparent, more intentional, and more meaningful for students.

One powerful way to address this challenge is through the strategic use of ACTFL® assessments and credentials as part of a comprehensive assessment system.Continue reading