Elisa Alvarez, Associate Commissioner
Office of Bilingual Education and World Languages
89 Washington Avenue, EB505W
Albany, NY 12234
Copyright © 2020 NYSED. All rights reserved.
THE NEW YORK STATE SEAL OF BILITERACY
(NYSSB) GUIDANCE TOOLKIT
Module 3: Designing the Culminating Project
and Promoting the NYSSB Program
Candace Black (NYSED-OBEWL), Maria Fenton (Mid-State RBERN),
and Shawnna Sweet (Mid-West RBERN)
MODULE 3 OBJECTIVES
Participants will be able to:
❑ State two ways to promote the NYSSB program with
students and families;
❑ Describe the role of the advisor; and
❑ Understand the criteria of the Culminating Project and
Presentation, including:
Develop a description of your school’s project;
Review a sample rubric and begin to develop a
rubric for your own school; and
Plan the logistics of the panel presentation.
REVIEW MODULE 2 ACTION ITEMS
Did your SBC accomplish the following:
Schedule the Board of Education presentation (share date,
and time) and develop a presentation for the event;
Plan for faculty outreach (date, time of meeting and any
resources catered for your school);
Finalize the implementation plan (review final copy of plan
vetted by your SBC); and
Finalize the School Notification Form?
WARM UP
Look over the following
emojis.
What # emoji best
describes how you are
feeling about the NYSSB
implementation process
and why?
Share how you have planned to promote the NYSSB
within your school community:
Board of Education
presentation update;
Plan for faculty outreach;
Finalized implementation
plan; and
School Notification form.
THE PLANNING STAGE
TIMELINE
Module 3 occurs
between the
Planning
Implementation
stages.
Tips & Tools:
• Advertise in the school building
• Create an informational video
(
Example from Webster CSD)
• Host student interest meetings
• Present to ELA, ESOL, and World
Languages classes
• Administer Student Self Assessments
(Example from South Jefferson CSD)
Photos courtesy of James Monroe High School, Rochester City School District
PROMOTING THE NYSSB
Tips &Tools:
• Determine eligibility and invite
potential candidates to apply.
• Send letters or emails home.
(Example: Parent Letters in 7
Languages)
• Present at a Parent-Teacher
Organization Meeting.
• Include in school newsletter or
website.
Photo from: Gates Chili CSD
PROMOTING THE NYSSB
Website courtesy of Gates-Chili CSD.
PROMOTING THE NYSSB
The opportunity for students to earn the NYSSB can be shared with all
stakeholders, including students, parents and families, building level faculty and
administrators, district level administrators, school board members, and
community members.
Resource:
NYS Seal of Biliteracy Flyer
Available in 13 Languages
Posters translated courtesy of the NYS Language RBERN at New York University.
Your district may also wish to consider including the NYSSB in its
formal Program of Studies/High School Course Offerings Guide to
ensure that students and families know about this opportunity as
early as possible.
Document courtesy of Gates-Chili CSD.
Document courtesy of Greece CSD.
PROGRAM OF STUDIES
LANGUAGE SKILLS IN HIGH DEMAND!
The American Council on the Teaching of
Foreign Languages (ACTFL) and its Lead
with Languages campaign, conducted a
survey of 1,200 U.S. employers, and the
resulting 2019 report,
Making Languages
Our Business: Addressing Foreign
Language Demand Among U.S. Employers,
indicates an urgent and growing demand
for language skills in the workplace.
STUDENT APPLICATION
Schools/Districts create an application
form for students to confirm their
intention of attaining the Seal of
Biliteracy.
The purpose of the application is to
formalize the students’ commitment to
the process and allow for tracking of
candidates’ progress.
Student Application courtesy of the NYSSB Mid-West Regional Collaborative.
Consider including the following items:
World Language spoken/studied
ELA/ESOL Teacher name
World Language Teacher name
Language program information
and/or years of study
Affirmation of intent to earn the
NYSSB
Acknowledgement of responsibilities
STUDENT APPLICATION
Student Application courtesy of the NYSSB Mid-West Regional Collaborative.
RESOURCE:
Culminating Project Example For Native
Language Speakers
Culminating Project for Native Language Speakers developed by Greece CSD.
Students may create a culminating project that
showcases their skills, abilities and talents in the
target language. School and district SBCs have
the flexibility to develop their own projects,
such as:
Research Projects
Scholarly Essays
Reflective Journals
Portfolios of Artifacts
CULMINATING PROJECTS
• Culminating Projects can be embedded in
regular coursework.
• If students are doing culminating projects for
both English and a World Language for 4
points, they must be different projects
(translations of a project into another
language do not qualify for the NYSSB).
• To balance student and SBC workload,
consider starting and/or completing the
Home Language (L1) Culminating Project in
junior year and the L2 Culminating Project in
senior year.
CULMINATING PROJECTS
Culminating Project slide examples courtesy of
Rochester Early College International High
School
, RCSD.
PANEL PRESENTATIONS
Presentation Examples:*
French Presentation Slides
French Presentation Video
Chinese Presentation Slides
Chinese Presentation Video
“Present a culminating project, scholarly
essay, or portfolio that meets the criteria
for speaking, listening, reading, and writing
established by the district’s NYS SBC and
that is aligned to the NYS Checkpoint C
Learning Standards to a panel of reviewers
with at least Intermediate High proficiency
in the target language.”
Photo courtesy of Greece CSD.
*Culminating Project slide and video examples courtesy of Rochester Early
College International High School
, RCSD.
INTERPERSONAL INTERPRETIVE PRESENTATIONAL
DEFINITIONS
Direct oral communication
(face-to-face or telephonic)
between individuals who are in
personal contact.
Direct written communication
between individuals who come
into personal contact.
Receptive communication
of oral or written
messages.
Mediated communication
via print and non-print
materials.
Listener, viewer, reader
work with visual or
recorded materials who
creator is absent.
Productive communication
using oral or written
language
Spoken or written
communication for people
with whom there is no
immediate personal
contact or which takes
place in a one-to-many
mode
Author of visual or
recorded material not
known personally to
listener or reader.
PATHS
Productive abilities: speaking,
writing
Receptive abilities: listening,
reading
Primarily receptive
abilities: listening, reading,
viewing
Primarily productive
abilities: speaking, writing,
showing
INTERMEDIATE HIGH LEVEL
Interpretive Listening and Reading
Students can usually follow the main message and
story and actions or flow of events expressed in
various time frames in conversations, discussions, and
straightforward, and sometimes descriptive, paragraph-
length informational texts.
Interpersonal Speaking and Writing:
Students can:
exchange information in conversations and some discussions on a variety of familiar
and some concrete topics that the student has researched, using connected
sentences that may combine to form paragraphs and asking a variety of questions,
often across various time frames.
interact with others to meet their needs in a variety of situations, sometimes
involving a complication, using connected sentences that may combine to form
paragraphs and asking a variety of questions, often across various time frames.
explain preferences, opinions, and emotions and provide advice on a variety of
familiar and some concrete topics that they have researched, using connected
sentences that may combine to form paragraphs and asking a variety of questions,
often across various time frames.
INTERMEDIATE HIGH LEVEL
Presentational Speaking and Writing:
Students can:
tell stories about school and community events and personal experiences,
using a few short paragraphs, often across various time frames.
state their viewpoint on familiar or researched topics and provide reasons
to support it, using a few short paragraphs, often across various time frames.
give detailed presentations on a variety of familiar topics and some concrete
topics they have researched, using a few short paragraphs, often across
various time frames.
INTERMEDIATE HIGH LEVEL
General Guidelines:
Students are evaluated holistically on the 3
modes of communication (interpretive,
interpersonal, presentational).
Students are assessed by a panel of reviewers
consisting of two or more adults who are
qualified speakers of the language of the
presentation.
If the presentation is given in a low-incidence
language or if there is only one adult speaker
of the language in a district, the panel may
consist of fewer reviewers.
Photo courtesy of East High School, RCSD.
EVALUATING PROJECTS
If schools design their own rubrics to evaluate the Culminating
Project and Presentation, they must be submitted to OBEWL
by December 1
st
of each year in which the NYSSB is offered.
Rubrics for English must be aligned to the ELA standards and
include the ACTFL Intermediate High proficiency level for all
three modes of communication.
Rubrics for World Languages must be aligned to the LOTE
standards and include the ACTFL Intermediate High proficiency
level for all three modes of communication.
RUBRICS
Take some time in your
SBC to review the
suggested rubric and
others that may currently
be in use in your school
and begin to design your
NYSSB rubric.
RUBRICS
Interviewer Questions for NYSSB candidates courtesy
of East High School, RCSD.
Following the student’s presentation of their
culminating project, a panel of reviewers will
interview the student in the target language to
measure interpersonal and presentational
skills (see examples of interview questions).
Schools may invite members of the
community to serve on the panel, especially in
the case of low-incidence languages.
The SBC may also consult with its Regional
Bilingual Education Resource Network
(RBERN)
to find qualified panelists.
PANEL INTERVIEW LOGISTICS
Student & panelists introduce themselves.
Lead panelist reviews format of presentation and interview and
explains once the presentation has started, only the target language
will be used.
Student presents their Culminating Project in the target language (to
assess presentational speaking skills).
Panelists engage student in conversation in the target language by
asking spontaneous questions (to assess interpersonal speaking and
listening skills).
Student leaves and panelist evaluate student performance.
FORMAT OF PRESENTATIONS
REVISITING MODULE 3 OBJECTIVES
Participants will be able to:
✔ State two ways to promote the NYSSB to students
and families;
✔ Describe the role of the advisor; and
✔ Understand the criteria of the Culminating Project
and Presentation.
✔ Develop a description of your school’s project;
✔ Review a sample rubric and begin to develop a rubric
for your own school; and
✔ Plan the logistics of the panel presentation.
Before the next Module meeting, please do the following:
Bring your school’s Program of Studies and how you will incorporate
the NYSSB next year.
Bring your promotion plan and any associated materials (e.g., parent
letters).
Bring a good draft of your NYSSB Student Application (reviewed by
your SBC).
Bring a good draft of your Culminating Project Rubric (reviewed by
your SBC).
ACTION ITEMS
Please contact Candace Black at candace.black@nysed.gov or via phone at (518) 473-7505 with
any questions on the NYSSB. New York City Department of Education schools should contact
the Division of Multilingual Learners at
dml@schools.nyc.gov.
The OBEWL New York State Seal of Biliteracy website
Regional Bilingual Education Resource Network (RBERNs):
o NYS Language RBERN (Statewide)
o Capital District RBERN at Questar III BOCES
o Hudson Valley RBERN at SW BOCES
o Long Island RBERN at Eastern Suffolk BOCES
o Mid-State RBERN at OCM BOCES
o Mid-West RBERN at Monroe 2 - Orleans BOCES
o NYC RBERN at Fordham University
o RBERN West at Erie I BOCES
FOR MORE INFORMATION
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
NYSSB TASK FORCE
Abby Baruch, NYC RBERN @ Fordham
Chastity Beato, Newburgh CSD
Cristina Campbell-Santiago, NYC DOE
Melissa Duquette, West RBERN
Jordan Gonzalez, Yonkers CSD
Jian Liu, NYSED-OBEWL
Pietro Mendola, Buffalo Public Schools
David Mumper, Hudson Valley RBERN
Wanda Ortiz-Rivera, Brentwood CSD
Paschalia Parpounas, Long Island RBERN
Lyda Ragonese, Syracuse CSD
Lourdes Roa, Mid-West RBERN
Roser Salavert, NYS / NYC Professional Development &
Resource Center for Religious and Independent Schools @
Fordham University
Jill Schimmel, NYC DOE
Sandy Strock, Capital RBERN
Jessa Waterhouse, Capital RBERN
Ron Woo, NYC Language RBERN @ NYU
