PK-12 world languages in Oklahoma.

              April 30, 2012 PK-12 WORLD LANGUAGES IN OKLAHOMA
Page 1
Historical Background
HB 1017
After the passage of HB 1017 in 1990, the Oklahoma State Board of Education identified the
study of languages (foreign, Native American, and American Sign Language) as core
curriculum. Several years later the content standards for world languages, commonly known as
PASS, were developed after carefully considering the latest research in the field of second
language instruction. These standards reflect the profession’s national standards document
created in 1996 by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL). With
communication and culture as the cornerstone for all language learning, the state’s goal was, and
still is, for all Oklahoma students to learn “how, when, and why to say what to whom” in at least
one other language (Oklahoma C3 Priority Academic Student Skills, p. 319). Requirements in
three major grade levels (K-3, Grades 4-8, and Grades 9-12) are addressed and noted in the chart
below:
World Languages Requirement in Oklahoma
Grades K-3 Languages Awareness is a required program in Oklahoma schools through
which children gain the insight that other languages exist besides their own.
Grades 4-8 Grade 4 is the beginning of a required sequential language program in
Oklahoma schools through which all students begin to develop proficiency in a
language. By the end of the Grade 4-8 program sequence, students should
demonstrate proficiency as described by the Novice Level progress indicators
listed in this document.
Grades 9-12 Grades 9-12 provide continued sequencing of instruction for further language
proficiency for Oklahoma students. School districts must offer at least two
years of a specific language in high school. Districts may offer long-term,
sequential programs in more than one language. Two Carnegie units of study
(240 hours) of the same foreign language are part of the requirement for the
Certificate of Distinction, an award that high schools may offer to high school
graduates.
Oklahoma C3 Priority Academic Student Skills, p. 319
School districts were also given the option of choosing to begin an articulated, sequential
program of study leading to even higher levels of proficiency beginning in kindergarten if they
so desired.
After much deliberation, SDE decided to give public schools seven years to implement this
program of study, and enrollment in world language courses steadily increased until 1997. In
1990 student enrollment in languages was 8.37% of the total student population, but by 1997,
that percentage increased to an all-time high of 18.46%, more than doubling the enrollment in
world languages, while total enrollment also increased by almost 9.3%. (See World Languages
Other than English (WLOE) Trends 1973-2012 in chart below.) Oklahoma was seen as an