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The Road Map World Language Credit Program is a cross-district partnership funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to the World Languages Program at OSPI. Key partners in carrying out the project are the seven districts involved with the
Road Map Project (Auburn, Federal Way, Highline, Kent, Renton, Seattle, and Tukwila), the
Office of the Education Ombudsman,
School’s Out Washington, the
Center for Applied Second Language Studies (CASLS) at the University of Oregon, and
Education Northwest as an evaluator.
Money from the grant, totaling $460,000 over two years, will be used to create a system within each district and across districts to offer
competency-based high school credits for world languages to English Language Learner (ELL) and heritage language students by providing opportunities for students to develop and/or maintain literacy in their native or heritage languages, as well as in English, and to demonstrate that proficiency through nationally available language assessments.
Read the OSPI Press Release.
The program will address specific needs:
- To honor and validate students’ first language and the languages of their families
- To provide opportunities for fluent and literate speakers to receive high school credit for their knowledge of these languages
- To open up opportunities for students to access core subject credits required for graduation (This is a significant opportunity for ELL students who enter the U.S. high school system mid-year or with limited core subject credits.)
- To prepare bilingual students for future career opportunities in private industry and to meet government needs for skilled bilingual speakers
- To motivate students to take advanced courses in their heritage languages at their schools, in college or at ethnic community centers
Resources developed as part of this grant will be available to expand opportunities for competency-based credits throughout the state. For more information, contact the Project Director, Dr. Michele Aoki
michele.aoki@k12.wa.us.
These resources were created by the Office of the Education Ombudsman.
World Language Credit Brochures (PDF):
World Language Credits Video Clips on YouTube
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