Patterns of integrating the Seal of Biliteracy into the school context

The Seal of Biliteracy (SoBL) is a high school graduation credential that recognizes US students in their final year of high school who have demonstrated proficiency in English and at least one other language. SoBL implementation has been shown in many contexts to be governed by local policy arbiters, who interpret the state policy to provide access to the SoBL to students. Additionally, scholars have suggested that the discourse surrounding the SoBL has been permeated with neoliberal logic that prioritizes individual success and economic advantage. This study investigates how these themes play out in the implementation of the SoBL in 16 schools across Iowa, diverse in size, location, and student linguistic profiles. Findings indicate that the implementation of the SoBL was influenced by the local context and local policy arbiters, and how the SoBL, in turn, influenced the arbiters' perspectives and practices related to language learners and language instruction.