Record number of students showcase multilingual skills by registering, completing World Language Proficiency testing

Students appreciate classroom experiences and opportunities in community with classmates, many put knowledge to the test through proficiency exam 

The benefits of World Language Proficiency testing are multi-faceted with the opportunity to earn high school credits, receive a state recognized Seal of Biliteracy and potentially improve job opportunities and salary with proven bilingual skills. 

An all-time high number of students across Bellingham Public Schools registered and completed testing during two testing dates offered in March 2025. A total of 189 registrations were made with the vast majority completing testing across another record high of 17 languages. 

The languages tested were Amharic, Arabic, Dari, Chinese-Mandarin, Farsi, Hindi, Japanese, Portuguese, Punjabi, Russian, Spanish, Swahili, Tamil, Thai, Ukrainian, Urdu, and Vietnamese.   

World Language Proficiency testing in BPS is conducted with STAMP 4S (4-skill), a digital proficiency test that assesses reading, writing, listening and speaking. For languages in which the STAMP test is not offered, students take the ALTA which has both digital and handwritten options. 

For both tests, minimum threshold scores are set for high school credit and the Seal of Biliteracy.  

BPS offers testing for free to all students wishing to take the test, and students can retake if they wish to try and improve scores. The test is an important metric to prove proficiency for student transcripts and resumes after high school.  

Classroom visits at Bellingham High School 

In Ryan Fries ML (multilingual learners) classroom, an ELD High Beginning Class spent a March day studying academic writing and vocabulary, working in small groups with flash cards featuring words and illustrations. 

“At BPS, we use a Supportive Mainstream ML model, providing our newest multilingual learners with a “sheltered” environment to practice English language acquisition,” Fries said.  “We work to build upon the learners’ first languages as a foundation for growth because we not only honor their cultural identities but also want to leverage their existing knowledge to facilitate deeper understanding and conceptual development.”  

Fries masterfully guided the class through the day’s lesson, speaking English and Spanish throughout the class while encouraging students and visiting tables to assist with vocabulary practice. “At the base level, this (language development) happens from expanding on vocabulary, like you saw, and taking this vocabulary larger concepts such as classifying items from most general to most specific,” Fries said. “Of course, to reach all 15 languages in the building, we can leverage technologies, and curriculum supports to achieve these aims.” 

In Lori French’s AP Spanish class and Janae Hodge’s Spanish 3 class, students were building cultural literacy and studying 22 Spanish-speaking countries. Both courses are taught using comprehensible input with the goal of operating entirely in Spanish. 

French had stations set up for students to visit and learn more about countries, while Hodge spent time with phrase flash cards in front of the class. 

Many students in AP Spanish had just completed the World Language Proficiency exam earlier in March were signed up to take an AP Spanish exam in May. 

Sound Bites 

Owen Bloom, a senior at BHS, passed the AP Spanish exam as a junior and will receive a Seal of Biliteracy at graduation. 

On course experience and building skills of the future 

 “I just like engaging with other students and learning more vocabulary and more of how the language works,” Bloom said. “…I don’t really know what I want to with my future, but I certainly will continue working on Spanish and maybe I’ll minor it in, but I’m sure I’ll end up using it.” 

On taking the proficiency test 

 “It felt like most other tests, but it was interesting to see how much I had learned and how I could figure out what parts I needed to work on,” Bloom said. 

Kris Armenta Cisneros and Manny Hernandez, both BHS juniors, are heritage speakers also enrolled in AP Spanish. 

On the course experience 

 “I mostly like the community in that class,” Armenta Cisneros said. “It’s a really good class having a lot of people that we know and get to know each other really good and we get to play a lot of games in that class, which is really fun too.” 

 “Just how easy it is to learn, they make it easy,” Hernandez said. “It’s a good environment and they give you a lot of help, like staying after class or just a lot of talking. And it’s really good help.” 

One building heritage language skills 

“Spanish is my first language,” Armenta Cisneros said. “It’s really fun to just get to keep working on my Spanish so I don’t forget about it, and always remember it. Getting to see other people and how much they improve is really cool too – going from Spanish 3 to AP Spanish and seeing that big jump from every single person that’s in that class is awesome.” 

“I am not the best Spanish speaker, but I did know Spanish before,” Hernandez said. “It’s nice because I feel like I learn from others and they learn from me too, so it’s a nice community where we help each other out. If the teacher were to be gone, I feel like we could teach each other which is a really good learning environment and makes it easy to learn.” 

Language course options in BPS 

 Course catalogue options at the high school level provide course options for: 

• World Languages courses 
  • Primarily taken by native English speakers and heritage speakers. A heritage speaker is someone who has learned a language primarily through informal, family-based exposure, often in a home environment, and who may have developed a level of proficiency in that language but might not have the same level of formal, standardized language skills as a native speaker 
  • Offerings include Spanish, French (Bellingham, Sehome, Squalicum), German (Bellingham and Squalicum), ASL (Squalicum and Sehome) and Japanese (Bellingham) 

• Multilingual learner courses  
  • Multilingual learners are students who have consistent experience with multiple languages. These students may have a current proficiency level in English that qualifies them for additional language support. 
  • Courses include four ELD (English Language Development) options.  
    • ELD Beginning, ELD High Beginning, ELD Intermediate and ELD Literacy.