Heritage Language Proficiency Testing

Connecting with one’s heritage through language is more than learning words; it’s embracing an identity and opening doors to a multilingual future. Bilingual and multilingual individuals are highly valued in today’s global job market, often enjoying better career opportunities and higher salaries.

Avant offers a clear, accessible pathway for heritage language learners through a selection of assessments that are tailored for different types of situations. Read more about the purpose for each type of assessment.

Our online assessment leads to State Seals of Biliteracy, the Global Seal of Biliteracy, Avant Digital Badges, and credit-by-exam which showcase proficiency and open opportunities in higher education and beyond.

For teachers in heritage programs, we provide essential resources to enhance teaching, understand assessment results, and enrich curriculums. Join us in nurturing the next generation of bilingual and multilingual leaders, celebrating their unique cultural identities.

Avant Tests for Heritage Programs

STAMP 4S

4-skill assessment for teenagers and adults

Reading Writing Listening Speaking

STAMP 4Se

4-skill assessment for elementary schools

Reading Writing Listening Speaking

STAMP WS

2-skill assessment for teenagers and adults

Writing Speaking

STAMP for ASL

2-skill American Sign Language assessment

Receptive Expressive

SHL

Spanish Heritage Language Test for heritage programs

Reading Writing Speaking

STAMP Monolingual

4-skill assessment with instructions in testing language

Reading Writing Listening Speaking

Objectives of the STAMP Language Assessments

Avant STAMP language assessments are most commonly used for:

Qualifying students to receive State or Global Seals of Biliteracy and Avant Digital Badge to potentially receive credits or advanced placement at universities.
Credit-by-Exam testing to award high school language credit for a learner’s native language ability. Washington state and Texas are examples of states that offer credit-by-exam.
Showcasing the effects of language learning.
Informing language program curriculum.
Providing teachers with valuable insights on the level of learner’s knowledge of the language and progression of skills.
Aiding teachers’ ability to improve results throughout the language learning process for well-rounded proficiency.

Benchmark Levels

There are three major proficiency levels assessed: novice, intermediate and advanced. There are three sublevels within the first two levels: low, mid and high, and two (low and mid) for the highest level, corresponding to the one to eight rating. The Avant STAMP ratings are based on the US national proficiency standards.

Writing and Speaking Rating

Writing and speaking skills are assessed by Avant Certified Raters who use the generally accepted scoring rubric procedure, appropriate for individual levels of language competence.

Topics Guide

Novice topics

Presentations: name, address, family status, gender, age, date and place of birth, nationality, language, school, education, profession
Calendar/ Time
Colors/ Shapes
Wild animals/ Pets
School /Classroom
Weather / Seasons
Clothing / footwear
Food /Beverages /Restaurants / Bars / Dishes
Places / Geography, location, towns, public institutions, monuments, tourist attractions
Daily life / Everyday routine
Shopping / Stores
Leisure / Activities
Household / House

Intermediate topics

Health
Holidays / Celebrations
Occupations / Professions
Transportation / Travel / Vacations
Future plans
Culture
Contemporary Issues
Current events
Economics
Literature
Science
Social Science
History
Plus, more in-depth aspects of Novice topics

Advanced topics

Arts
Politics
Religion
Math
Science / Technology
Plus, more in-depth aspects of Intermediate topics

Opportunities for Bilingual Credentials

State Seals of Biliteracy, Global Seals of Biliteracy, and Avant Digital Badges were created to honor students’ language proficiency skills and provide a reliable validation mechanism to higher education institutions and employers.

All Seals of Biliteracy and digital badges are earned by a demonstration of language proficiency in two or more languages through an approved external assessment like the Avant STAMP 4S, WS and ASL. In most traditional schools and districts, students achieving the minimum score required to earn a seal have the results placed on their official transcript.

State Seals of Biliteracy

State Seals of Biliteracy are awards granted by a school, district, or state to high school seniors in public school environments.

Avant Digital Badges

Avant Digital Badges can be earned by any student and submitted to institutions of higher education for advanced placement into higher-level courses.

Global Seals of Biliteracy

Global Seals of Biliteracy enable recipients to showcase their language skills to any school or employer across state lines and national borders, with a unique serial-numbered document. The Global Seal is awarded at three levels: Functional, Working, and Professional. Students, teachers, community members, and professionals are all eligible for the Global Seal.

Credit-by-Exam

Credit-by-Exam is also offered in some states to award high school world language credit to learners with native ability. Washington state and Texas are such examples.

Helping Learners Prepare

Avant STAMP is a real-world communication proficiency assessment. Meaning, it is about what the test taker can do at this point in time. “Cramming” will not help improve scores. Regular practice in writing and speaking the language will help the test taker improve their skills over time.

Avant has several resources for test takers to help them prepare for the test included in the Test Taker Power-Up Guide.

This guide and its related resources include:

Strategies for improving language skills.
Target “can-do” statements to help them understand what they need to be able to do to get to the next proficiency level.
Video tutorials on what to expect on the test.
Sample tests.

Resources for Community-Based Teachers

Benchmark Scale — Our Benchmark and Rubric Guide is your key to understanding your students’ proficiency levels.

Knowing how to help your language learners improve and demonstrate proficiency is key to growing their skills.

Avant has several resources to help teachers understand the levels of proficiency based on internationally recognized standards and use them to inform their curriculum for improved outcomes.

Avant’s free resources include:

Training on the Proficiency Standards

Avant ADVANCE boosts teacher confidence in accurately scoring student writing responses.

Self-paced with immediate feedback
Practice rating student responses
Helps set goals and proficiency targets
Online and affordable

Learn more about Avant ADVANCE

Avant STAMP 4S

Avant STAMP 4S is the premier computer-adaptive language proficiency assessment typically administered to second-language learners.

STAMP 4S tests Reading, Writing, Listening, and Speaking and is our most comprehensive assessment. This test takes, on average, two (2) hours to complete and is offered in 17 different languages.

Reading and Listening sections are multiple-choice and computer-scored with results available immediately. The Writing and Speaking sections are scored by our expert Avant Certified Raters.

The instructions and questions require an Intermediate-Mid understanding of English. For learners with limited English proficiency, a two-skill Writing and Speaking assessment may be used where the prompts may be heard in the testing language in addition to the English written instructions.

Avant STAMPe

Avant STAMPe is the gold standard for linguistically and developmentally appropriate language assessment content for learners ages 12 and under.

STAMPe tests have been approved for use as early as K-1.

STAMP 4Se assesses Reading, Writing, Listening, and Speaking and is our most comprehensive assessment. This test takes, on average, two (2) hours to complete and is offered in 14 different languages.

STAMP WSe tests Writing and Speaking. On average, it takes one (1) hour to complete and is available in 2 languages.

Reading and Listening sections are multiple-choice and computer-scored with results available immediately. The Writing and Speaking sections are scored by our expert Avant Certified Raters.

Each section can be completed in any order and one at a time for more flexible testing times and durations.

Avant STAMP WS

Avant STAMP WS language proficiency assessment is a semi-adaptive Writing and Speaking test. Test takers will be asked to answer seven (7) self-evaluation questions that best represent their skill/ability level in both the Reading and Listening sections.

The self-evaluated Reading score is used to determine the level of prompt delivered for the Writing section. The same applies for the Listening self-evaluation related to the Speaking prompts. This allows the language productive sections to be more appropriately leveled for the test taker.
STAMP WS takes about one (1) hour to complete. The test is fully scored by our expert Avant Certified Raters.

The instructions and prompts require an Intermediate-Mid understanding of English. For learners with limited English proficiency, the prompts may be heard in the testing language in addition to the English written instructions.

Avant SuperLanguage Test

*Abkhazian, Burmese, Karen, and Jingpho (Kachin) are temporarily unavailable.

STAMP for ASL

Avant STAMP for ASL is a first-of-its-kind American Sign Language test. It was developed for second-language learners of ASL and Children of Deaf Adults (CODA) in collaboration with Bridges Oregon. This assessment is designed for ages 13-18.

Test takers may be evaluated on the Receptive skill (the ability to comprehend ASL) as well as the Expressive skill (the ability to create ASL) including the use of ASL grammar. This computer-adaptive Sign Language test is conducted entirely online.

The Receptive skill is computer-adaptive and results are available immediately upon completion of the section. The Expressive skill is scored by members of the ASL linguistics community who have undergone Avant Rater Certification training. Expressive results are available in 20-22 business days.

Spanish Heritage Language (SHL)

Avant’s Spanish Heritage Language assessment is a placement test for heritage language programs. It measures Vocabulary, Grammar, Verb use, Spelling, and Writing and Speaking proficiency in Spanish that is appropriate for the wide range of Spanish spoken in the US.

The Avant SHL test identifies less proficient students quickly and allows them to exit the test early, while more proficient students take the entire test to gather the data necessary to accurately place them.

Avant STAMP Monolingual

Avant developed the STAMP Monolingual as a proficiency test that is designed to include instructions, questions, and prompts all in the target language. Educators may use STAMP Monolingual tests to accurately assess incoming heritage speakers, provide credit for a heritage language, or assess proficiency in a bilingual or multicultural environment.

STAMP Monolingual assesses Reading, Writing, Listening, and Speaking. This test takes, on average, two (2) hours to complete and is offered in 2 languages.

Reading and Listening sections are multiple-choice and computer-scored with results available immediately. The Writing and Speaking sections are scored by our expert Avant Certified Raters.

Contact our team to get a custom quote based on your heritage program’s needs.

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Updated: October 2025

Heritage Language Proficiency Testing

Avant Tests for Heritage Programs

STAMP 4S

STAMP 4Se

STAMP WS

STAMP for ASL

SHL

STAMP Monolingual

Objectives of the STAMP Language Assessments

Benchmark Levels

Writing and Speaking Rating

Topics Guide

Novice topics

Intermediate topics

Advanced topics

Opportunities for Bilingual Credentials

State Seals of Biliteracy

Avant Digital Badges

Global Seals of Biliteracy

Credit-by-Exam

Helping Learners Prepare

Resources for Community-Based Teachers

Training on the Proficiency Standards

Avant STAMP 4S

STAMP 4S Sample Tests

Avant STAMPe

STAMP 4Se Sample Tests

STAMP WSe Sample Tests

Avant STAMP WS

STAMP WS Sample Tests

Avant SuperLanguage Test

STAMP for ASL

STAMP for ASL Sample Test

Spanish Heritage Language (SHL)

SHL Sample Test

Avant STAMP Monolingual

STAMP Monolingual Sample Tests

How can we help?