Thad Williams

International Education Administrator

Dr. Thad Williams is the International Education Administrator in Seattle Public Schools where he lives in southwest Seattle and his four children attend school. In the past he served as the Multilingual Curriculum Developer and Professional Development coach in the Bellevue School District and helped lead several key initiatives in the district to promote dual language, biliteracy and racial and linguistic equity. Thad has a background as a Spanish World Language teacher, ELL teacher/facilitator, and in dual language education. He has participated as a presenter and professional development facilitator for the Washington Association of Bilingual Education the past several years with a focus on serving emergent bilingual students and dual language education. He also has worked closely with Dr. José Medina and the Center for Applied Linguistics providing professional development on dual language leadership and biliteracy approaches.

World Language Credit Testing and the Seal of Biliteracy: 10 Years’ Experience in Seattle

In 2010, Seattle became one of the first two districts in Washington state to award world language high school credits to students for any language based on demonstrated proficiency. Over the years, Seattle has tested thousands of students, in particular, bilingual students still learning English who were proud to have their home language recognized for the first time as an asset. Seattle was also one of the first districts to offer the State Seal of Biliteracy to high school graduates and even the Global Seal at the Working Fluency level.

This presentation will be available for on-demand viewing on December 2nd during Global CRED. Register for Global CRED below, it’s quick easy and free!