Identify, celebrate, and empower your multilingual students.
Every school has individuals whose language skills go unseen and uncelebrated, spoken at home, learned from a grandparent, acquired independently online, or taught in a classroom down the hall. The Global Seal provides a free way for your school to award them an internationally recognized, shareable credential that opens doors to college credit, advanced placement, scholarships, and a resume line that says their bilingualism is an asset, not an afterthought. It works for every multilingual student or staff member in your building, including the ones who know or are learning languages you don't teach.
170+
languages we certify
70+
countries where certificates are issued
$0
cost to your school
Empowering multilinguals worldwide
Students today need to communicate across cultures. The Global Seal validates that ability with a certificate universities and employers recognize.
It is free, it is inclusive, and it is digital. Students can show their language skills to colleges, employers, and anyone else who asks, from middle school onward. There are no age or grade requirements, individuals can be awarded their certificate as soon as they qualify and as their skills grow, they can earn additional higher proficiency level credentials.
Shareable micro-credentials make learning visible, celebrate achievement, and motivate students to keep going. Research shows that a Seal of Biliteracy program increases language course enrollment and retention. See the research →
Functional Fluency
Handles daily routines and familiar situations. Can describe services, follow steps, and answer common questions. Some grammar and pronunciation mistakes are expected at this level.
Working Fluency
Handles both familiar and new situations, in formal and informal settings. Can make recommendations, explain things in detail, and solve problems accurately.
Professional Fluency
The highest level. Communicates clearly on complex topics. Can persuade, negotiate, present, and work within the cultural expectations of professional settings.
What students gain
The Global Seal helps students recognize their hard-earned language skills, verify them with a trusted credential, share them digitally, and use them to open doors.
It counts on university applications. The Global Seal counts as an International Honor on the Common App and students can use their Digital Language Profile to send an official language transcript directly to a university.
Students earn it as soon as they qualify. Don’t wait for graduation to recognize your students. Award the Global Seal as soon as they qualify so the credential is ready for job and university applications.
It recognizes languages you do not teach. Heritage speakers, immersion students, and self-taught learners can all certify.
It may earn college credit or advanced placement. Some universities award up to 16 college credits or advanced placement to Global Seal holders. The credential officially documents a student's current language proficiency, giving universities the verified proof they need to award credit and place students accurately — no additional testing required. See college credit →
It is shareable and verifiable. Each certification lives in a secure Digital Language Profile students can link to on an application, résumé or LinkedIn, or send as an official transcript.
““Having this seal allows employers to see not only that you have functional fluency but also the dedication to learning a language. Thanks to my Global Seal, I was able to get a job at a physical therapy clinic straight out of high school.””
What your program gains
Course enrollment and retention go up. A single certificate isn't the end of the road — it's the next level to unlock. Students who earn a credential have a clear reason to stay enrolled and advance, and the path there is built like a game: Pathway ribbons mark progress at pre-certification levels, giving students recognition for growth long before they reach a full certificate. From there, they climb toward one of three certification tiers — each one a milestone worth staying in the course for.
You get proficiency data. In addition to your testing data, organizations that award the Global Seal have access to all of their certification records and proficiency growth data through dashboards on the Global Seal's secure platform. Generate reports to share with administrators and school boards on the effectiveness of your program.
Every multilingual student is included. Your credential reaches students across the building, not just those in your language sequence. You can even certify bilingual staff.
It costs your school nothing. You pay only for testing, and you pay the testing company directly.
““The Global Seal of Biliteracy has bridged the gap between language learning and career readiness for our CTE students. It provides them with a verifiable, portable credential that validates their language proficiency and gives them a competitive edge, whether entering the workforce or continuing their education.”
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Supporting Partners
The Requirements
Universal Requirements for Certification
To award the Global Seal of Biliteracy, qualifying proctored test scores must be submitted directly to the Global Seal of Biliteracy by a school representaive. The Global Seal of Biliteracy’s qualified tests are scored on one of two language testing scales, the CEFR Scale and ACTFL scale.
First Language of Certification (Dominant Language)
Global Seal recipients must meet our first language of certification requirements. For credentialing purposes, the first language of certification is defined as the candidate’s dominant language or the language in which the individual is most comfortable and which the individual can speak, listen, read and write best. Generally, this is the language of one’s primary education. To award the Global Seal of Biliteracy, qualifying grade-level documentation and/or proctored test scores must be submitted to demonstrate first language of certification proficiency.
Second Language of Certification
All Global Seal of Biliteracy candidates must meet Second Language certification requirements through testing in order to receive a Global Seal of Biliteracy. Qualifying test scores from an approved test of the second (or third, fourth, etc.) language must be submitted within 12 months of the test date (defined as the first date of testing) and proctored by an impartial human. If a student is multilingual, each language is certified individually with an additional Global Seal of Biliteracy certificate at the qualifying tested level.
The Process
A Simple 3-Step Pathway to Certification
Issuing a Global Seal of Biliteracy is straightforward through the program's quick and easy application, and award process - completely free of charge (cost of testing not included). Providing this international certification to your students is as simple as register, submit, receive.
Sign-Up
Sign-Up Online: A school or organization representative starts by completing the organization sign-up process to provide your contact information and a few details about your program. This allows the Global Seal to understand your specific credentialing needs and how to best support you.
Submit
Submit Testing: To validate proficiency, you'll need to provide documentation proving skills in two languages for all students. This includes test scores from one of our approved language assessments taken within the last 12 months. All applications for the first certification in the U.S. must include English for either the first or second certification language.
Receive
Receive Certification: After your application and required test scores are reviewed and approved, you will receive an official Global Seal of Biliteracy certificate for each qualifying candidate! Each certificate documents a student’s dominant and tested language and fluency level and is sent directly to your program free of cost.
Certifying Bilingual School Staff
CELEBRATE AND EMPOWER SCHOOL EXCELLENCE
Join the growing number of schools that use the Global Seal of Biliteracy to identify and recognize current bilingual staff and to assist them in assessing potential hires. Schools can test administrative, teaching, or support staff using either onsite or remote proctoring and credential qualifying individuals at one of our three certification levels.
Let your community know that you are actively growing a globally competent student body. A multilingual staff offers a variety of benefits to your school environment, and can distinguish your school as a community leader.
Enhanced Communication: Facilitates effective communication with students and parents from diverse linguistic backgrounds, improving engagement and understanding.
Cultural Sensitivity: Staff members can better understand and respect cultural nuances, promoting inclusivity and a supportive learning environment.
Support for Language Learners: Helps students learn a new language by providing support in their native language when needed, reducing barriers to learning.
Broader Perspective: Different linguistic abilities bring diverse perspectives and approaches to teaching and problem-solving.
Community Engagement: Builds stronger connections with multicultural communities, fostering partnerships and trust.
Pathway to Language Proficiency
At the heart of the Global Seal of Biliteracy is our goal to encourage lifelong language learning. We want to support language programs, educators, and learners by providing them with resources to “level up their skills,” “leverage their bilingualism,” and “link to future opportunities to use and grow their languages.” Supporting resources to incentivize and recognize language learning success are critical to meeting these goals. The Global Seal of Biliteracy is excited to provide classroom tools to track and recognize progress on the pathway toward language proficiency.
Evaluate Your Students Language Level
The Global Seal of Biliteracy has developed free adaptive language proficiency self-assessments based on can-do statements from two major proficiency scales. These can-do statements are reflective of an individual’s language ability based on the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) Levels and the ACTFL Levels of Language Proficiency.
Promotional Resources
To help educate potential recipients and stakeholders such as administrators, counselors, parents and students about the Global Seal opportunity, add our "We Credential With" badge to your organization's website. To accompany the badge, we have put together explanatory text which can be found on our promotional resources page. Additionally, we've created a press release to help you get the word out to local media outlets about your language learners' achievements.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Thanks to the generous sponsors and donors, the Global Seal of Biliteracy is a completely free program that certifies an individual’s biliteracy based on language testing. The Global Seal itself does NOT test candidates. All testing is contracted with test companies directly by educational institutions, organizations, businesses or by individuals themselves and testing costs are paid directly to test companies.
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The Global Seal website describes the processwhich includes:
1. Sign-Up by clicking the Certify tab or button. The Global Seal of Biliteracy is free (cost of testing not included).
2. Submit qualifying scores on an approved test. A referral for testing will be provided upon request. The Global Seal of Biliteracy list of qualifying tests can be found on this website.
3. The Global Seal of Biliteracy award and award certification is issued to qualifying candidates at no charge. Schools and/or recipients may choose to select and pay for optional recognition medals or pins.
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The Global Seal’s Board of Advisors determine which tests best meet proficiency-based criteria. All tests that qualify for the Global Seal of Biliteracy can be found on our test page and/or can be viewed by language. The Board of Advisors’ work is ongoing, and additional tests, including international tests, may be added. Additionally, deletions and/or modifications may be made to currently qualifying tests as the tests and or testing conditions or criteria may change.
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The Global Seal currently offers tests in over 125 languages. To find a test in a specific language, please see our Languages page. If you don't see the language that you wish to test in, please contact us at info@theglobalseal.com
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Many universities have provided college credit, advanced placement and even scholarships to Global Seal of Biliteracy recipients. Additionally, almost 25% of Global Seal certificates are issued by colleges and universities to their own students. To see a list of higher education institutions that have recently issued the Global Seal, click here: https://theglobalseal.com/higher-education.
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The Global Seal of Biliteracy is universal, it crosses state lines and is issued internationally whereas the individual State Seals of Biliteracy (SSB) are generally available to students graduating from a public school in a state with an individual district or school that has adopted the program (with some exceptions). The Global Seal of Biliteracy certifies all qualifying language learners, regardless of age or grade level, including university students and working adults who would like to certify their language skills for academic or work purposes. The Global Seal is used by programs that may not qualify for a SSB such as private schools, community-based heritage language programs, or language immersion programs. The Global Seal is often used to complement the state Seals to provide earlier benchmark awards, an alternative award to language learners above or below state Seal criteria, or to provide students with more ways to leverage their language skills. For example, a state seal is considered a State Honor on the Common App, whereas the Global Seal is an International Honor. Many schools have adopted both programs to create a pathway of awards and/or to maximize the opportunities their recipients have to highlight and share their language abilities.
For more frequently asked questions please visit our FAQ page.