What is the Seal of Biliteracy?
A seal of biliteracy celebrates an educator's accomplishment and certifies language proficiency in two or more languages.
There are two types of Seals that The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) recognizes:
1. Illinois State Seal of Biliteracy
2. Global Seal of Biliteracy
Illinois State Seal of Biliteracy
- The school district will electronically submit verification of the seal awarded to ISBE through the Student Information System (SIS).
- Once the information is obtained from SIS, ISBE will upload the designation information into ELIS under the "Additional Credentials" tab.
What if an educator holds an Illinois State Seal of Biliteracy, but it is not listed on their ELIS account?
The first step is to have the school district see if the information can be added into SIS. If not, ISBE staff can add the Illinois State Seal of Biliteracy if it is listed on a high school transcript with the completion information. The high school transcript must be on the educators ELIS account.
Global Seal of Biliteracy
- The educator must complete ISBE form 83-91 by following the instructions listed on the form.
- The global seal team will verify and confirm seal eligibility and submit the form back to ISBE
- Once ISBE received the form from the global seal team, the designation will be added to the educator's "Additional Credentials" tab on ELIS.
What if an educator holds a Global Seal of Biliteracy, but it is not listed on their ELIS account?
The educator needs to follow the instructions on the 83-91 form to have the seal added to their account.
The Illinois State Seal and Global Seal of Biliteracy can be used to waive the language proficiency exam for the following areas:
- Subsequent bilingual endorsement on a Professional Educator License (PEL)
- Subsequent world language endorsement on a PEL
- ELS-TBE license exam requirements (except for the English Language Proficiency exam)
- World language endorsement on an existing ELS-TBE license
What if an educator holds a seal of biliteracy in multiple languages?
ISBE will list each language on the "Additional Credentials" tab on ELIS as long as it has been verified by the school district (state seal) or global seal association (global seal).
Additional information regarding the Seal of Biliteracy can be found on the following websites:
https://www.isbe.net/Documents/Seal-of-Biliteracy-One-Pager.pdf
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