Last week, members of the class of 2025 became the first Oyster River High School (ORHS) students to take the New Hampshire Seal of Biliteracy test. Earning this distinction would award the students the state seal on their high school diploma.
As expected from any test being taken for the first time, the Assessment of Performance toward Proficiency in Language (AAPPL) test did not go entirely smoothly for the seniors who signed up to take it. They each had respective reasons for taking the test, but all agreed that there were some issues along the way.
The AAPPL intermediate level was the version offered to ORHS seniors, in the language of their choice. This test has four sections: presentational writing, interpersonal speaking, and interpretive reading and listening. Each section of the test started at a novice level of the language and increased in difficulty as the student continued. The test was estimated to take between three and four hours, but most students took closer to four to five hours, some testing for the length of a school day.
While the length of testing time was inconvenient and draining, a larger annoyance for the students was incomplete directions on the test. Dom Couture (’25) said, “It felt all over the place. There were no true guidelines as to how to take it.” Couture wasn’t the only student who noticed the lack of guidelines and may have struggled with no indication of word count or length of writing sample needed, and no indication of how long to speak for.
ORHS French teacher Heidi Sant heard similar discourse after the test. She said, “the formatting of the test was very daunting. I feel really bad about the students who I’ve seen demonstrate competency and proficiency in the language, but the formatting of the test just feeds into testing anxieties.”
Sant, and other ORHS world language teachers, were encouraged to suggest the test to senior students in their classes. The test was also available to students not enrolled in the ORHS world language program, whether they take individual language classes or speak a second language outside of school.
Students can also take the same test in multiple languages. Lotta Berglund (’25) didn’t find this to be any more challenging, although she doubled her testing time. “Mine wasn’t too hard because they were different sorts of tests. German is Germanic and French is Latin, so I was able to get into a different mindset,” she said.
A few of the test takers were Advanced Placement (AP) Spanish students who are signed up for the AP Spanish language test in May. “I took the [AAPPL] test because I wanted to have an opportunity to practice for the AP test… I don’t really care what my score is because I felt like it was good practice,” said Rose Goldsmith (’25).
The AAPPL test is only one of the nationally recognized standardized tests which measure proficiency in a language. Others include the Standards Measurement of Proficiency (STAMP) test, International Baccalaureate test, and AP language tests. While ORHS may not have equal access to all of these tests, Sant noticed an issue specifically with the choice to use the AAPPL test.
The AAPPL test is geared towards native heritage speakers of a language. But, the biliteracy test was testing a second language for most of the students who took it. Sant described the disconnect, saying. “As I interpret the seal of biliteracy, it’s to share with employers or schools interested in a language skill. It’s information about someone’s competence without being fully fluent. I think you can be fully functional at a customer service job, for example, without getting a high score on this test.”
Couture, agreeing with Sant, thinks ORHS should seek out a test better suited for those who are testing a second language. “There’s so many better versions they could do,” he said.
This group of students may have acted as a trial run for ORHS’s Seal of Biliteracy testing, but each one left the test room having proven their language skillset. Berglund said, “I feel good about the opportunity even though it was new, but it showcases the people who care about languages.”
– Amelia Rury
Mouth of the River 
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