How the Avant STAMP Test Made Facilitated Interdependent Language Learning (FILL) Possible

My name is J. Ryan Allen, and I teach World Languages at Delmar High School, a small but ambitious school district in southern Delaware.

For many years, Delmar offered only one world language: Spanish. Year after year, students expressed a desire to study languages such as French, German, Korean, ASL, and others—languages connected to their families, their hobbies, or their future aspirations. These languages were available in other Delaware districts, but without certified teachers in those areas—or the space in our master schedule to add additional courses—meeting these requests felt out of reach.

Facilitated Interdependent Language Learning (FILL)

Facilitated Interdependent Language Learning (FILL) changed that. By design, FILL places students in the driver’s seat of their own learning, empowering each learner to pursue a language of personal significance while I serve as a facilitator rather than a traditional instructor.

Instead of teaching ten different languages, I teach students about proficiency: how languages work, how communicative skills develop, and how to select and use the right tools.

Students then work interdependently—supporting one another, sharing strategies, and engaging with targeted resources—to teach themselves their chosen languages.

FILL aligns naturally with Delaware’s world-readiness vision, where functional language use, intercultural competence, and learner autonomy are core components of instruction. But before we could launch a multi-language program, we needed a way to equitably award graduation credit—one that did not depend on the availability of a certified teacher in each language. That is where Avant’s STAMP assessment played a foundational role.

Listen to J. Ryan Allen and Tom Welch discuss FILL in Episode 2 of the Multiliterate Mind Podcast.

Delaware’s Policy Landscape Made Innovation Possible

The State of Delaware allows students to fulfill their World Language graduation requirement through externally validated measures of proficiency—including the Avant STAMP assessment.

Because I am certified only in Spanish, I cannot award course credits for languages I am not licensed to teach. However, Delaware’s proficiency-based option allows students to demonstrate their learning objectively, regardless of the language they choose.

In practical terms, this means that any language represented on the STAMP test becomes a viable option for students at Delmar. In our first year of FILL, students studied Spanish, French, Italian, German, Greek, Turkish, Mandarin, Korean, Japanese, and ASL—and every single one of these languages is supported by Avant. We never had to tell a student, “Sorry, you can’t pursue that language.” 

This policy also reshaped the culture of our world language department. Instead of being a “Spanish-only district,” as we historically had been, we became a multilingual district—a community where students’ personal identities and language interests were honored, and where access, not limitation, defined our programmatic vision. FILL would not exist in Delmar without Avant’s commitment to broad linguistic representation or without Delaware’s forward-thinking stance on proficiency-based graduation pathways.

The Pilot Year: STAMP as the Cornerstone of Accountability and Opportunity

During the 2024–2025 school year, we launched our first FILL cohort. We enrolled 23 students, most of them freshmen, representing ten different target languages.

Throughout the semester, students engaged in self-paced, proficiency-driven exploration grounded in the NCSSFL-ACTFL Can-Do Statements and aligned with Delaware’s Core Practices for world language instruction (e.g., functional language tasks, authentic texts, meaningful feedback). Students set weekly goals, tracked their progress, collaborated with same-language peers, and used a wide range of resources—including AI, storybooks, apps, and community connections—to build proficiency.

At the end of the semester, every student took the Avant STAMP test in their respective language. For most, it was the first high-stakes language assessment they had ever encountered, and the results were remarkable:

• Of the 23 students, four had already fulfilled Delaware’s two-credit requirement before joining FILL.
• Of the remaining 19 students, 11 earned two full language credits—the equivalent of two years of coursework—after just a single semester of study.
• One student earned one credit.
• The remaining students missed by only narrow margins, usually in one or two specific skills.

One of the most beneficial features of the Avant STAMP is that students may retest in individual sections. For learners who narrowly missed novice-high in listening or speaking, the ability to purchase single sections removed both financial and psychological barriers. Instead of retaking the entire test, students could target just the areas they needed to improve. Several students have since retested and earned the remaining credit needed to fulfill the Delaware requirement.

The STAMP test became far more than an assessment tool—it became the engine of equity in our program. It validated student learning across all languages, removed structural barriers tied to teacher certification, and empowered learners to take true ownership of their linguistic journeys. It also allowed us, for the first time in Delmar’s history, to tie course weight directly to demonstrated proficiency. Because Delaware equates Novice-Mid with the first level of language learning, students who surpassed that benchmark earned an honors weight, recognizing the rigor and achievement reflected in their STAMP results.

Expanding Access: STAMP as a Catalyst for a New Era of Language Learning

Even before FILL, our district relied on the Avant STAMP test to award Certificates of Multiliteracy to Spanish learners and heritage/native speakers, honoring the languages present in our community.

With FILL, however, STAMP’s role has expanded dramatically. It is no longer just a measure of proficiency—it is the foundation that makes a multi-language program possible in a small district like ours. Without STAMP, we could never support ten languages in a single classroom or award state-recognized credit in languages I do not speak.

Most importantly, STAMP has allowed us to build a truly equitable pathway for students whose linguistic identities or aspirations extend beyond traditional offerings. In our classroom, Korean learners sit beside Italian learners, Mandarin learners beside ASL, all progressing toward proficiency, confidence, and global readiness. Thanks to the STAMP test, FILL is not only possible—it is thriving. As we expand the program, we believe this approach represents the future of language learning: personalized, proficiency-based, equitable, and aligned with the linguistic realities of our students’ lives.