SFUSD Celebrates State Seal of Biliteracy Earners

Press Release

San Francisco (Oct. 3, 2022) - The San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) Superintendent Dr. Matt Wayne announced that 619 graduates from the class of 2022 (16% of graduates) have earned the California State Seal of Biliteracy, recognizing high school graduates who have attained a high level of proficiency in speaking, reading, and writing one or more languages in addition to English.

In the class of 2022, 57% of graduates earned the seal for Chinese, 32% for Spanish, 6% for Japanese, and 3% for Korean. Graduates also earned seals for Filipino, French, German, Italian, Latin, and Vietnamese. 

“We are proud of our graduates who’ve achieved a remarkable accomplishment by earning the California State Seal of Biliteracy,” said SFUSD Superintendent Dr. Matt Wayne. “The Seal of Biliteracy is one way SFUSD affirms and promotes students’ bilingualism and biliteracy. Research shows that bilingualism not only has economic benefits for students in the workforce, but also enhances and improves many cognitive abilities. We highly encourage all of our students to take advantage of the language programs offered in our schools.”

SFUSD offers a wide range of language programs for PreK-12 students including dual language immersion, biliteracy, and world language for elementary school, middle school, and high school. Languages offered in schools include Spanish, Cantonese, Mandarin, Korean, Filipino, Japanese, Arabic, Italian, French, Hebrew, Latin, Vietnamese, and Samoan. In middle school, students can receive high school credit for 7th and 8th grade world language and immersion coursework. 

“Learning a new language is about connecting people,” said Gilberto SilvaCortes, a 12th grade student at Mission High School, who is on track to receive the Seal of Biliteracy in 2023. “I believe in the language classes here in San Francisco since it’s a diverse city in a diverse state. The teachers and counselors have been helpful and I enjoy the opportunity to practice my conversational skills in class.”

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, criteria to earn the seal has changed over the last two years. For the class of 2022, a local English assessment requirement was reinstated. Starting with the class of 2023, students must meet the following requirements:

• Complete all English Language Arts graduation requirements (40 credits) with a grade point average of 2.0 or above in those classes.
• Pass a standardized English Language Arts assessment, as indicated by passing the ELA section of the 11th grade Smarter Balanced Assessment at or above the "standard met" level OR scoring 3 or above on the English Language Advanced Placement (AP) exam. 
• Students who are English learners must have a summative ELPAC score of 4.
• Score of 3 or above on World Language Advanced Placement (AP) exam OR Successful completion of district-approved 4th year SFUSD or CCSF World Language coursework, attaining an overall grade point average of 3.0 or above in that course.

The SFUSD Class of 2021 had 772 State Seal of Biliteracy earners with the English assessment requirement waived. The Class of 2020 had 615 earners while the Class of 2019 had 735 earners.

About SFUSD

SFUSD is the seventh largest school district in California, educating 50,000 PreK-12 students every year. San Francisco is both a city and a county; therefore, SFUSD administers both the school district and the San Francisco County Office of Education (COE). This makes SFUSD a “single district county.”

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