Avant Digital Badges

Language Testing Digital Certification Badges

Avant Digital Badges provide a secure way for test takers to share their results with a potential employer or an institution of higher education. They may receive credit and advanced placement in a language program.

For a complete list of languages and the number of credits recommended for each proficiency level, review the ACE credit recommendations.

…this has saved me so much time!

“The Avant STAMP test and digital badge allowed me to fulfill four elective credits towards my major in Computer Science and placed me into higher level courses for my Hebrew Minor. Without it, I would have had to take an additional placement test and possibly additional courses that would have made it more challenging to complete my minor. In the long run this has saved me so much time!”

Kira H. Student, University of Maryland

Qualifying Language Tests

For Swahili and Yoruba, only 2-Skill (Writing and Speaking) qualify for digital badges.

How to Get the Avant Digital Badge

Avant Digital Badges must be requested by the testing organization (e.g. school or employer). Test takers should contact their testing coordinator and ask to request a badge on their behalf.

Once scores are validated by Avant, test takers will receive an email from Credly with a link to claim their badge. To receive this email, test takers must provide their email address on the test taker profile at the time of testing.

Requesting an Avant Digital Badge

Avant Digital Badges must be requested by the testing organization.

Request badges now

Frequently Asked Questions

Is there a fee for the badge?

There is a processing fee of $20 for each badge requested.

Organizations requesting multiple badges have the option to cover the cost for their test takers either pre- or post-testing. Or, each test taker may pay for their badges individually.

How do language learners earn the Avant Digital Badge?

The badge eligibility score is a minimum of Novice-High for each skill tested. The badge level is determined by the lowest score of all the skills assessed.

For example, if a test taker received a Novice-High score for one of the skills and Intermediate-Low for the rest of the skills, a test taker will only qualify for a Novice-High level badge.

Who accepts the Avant Digital Badge?

Acceptance of the Avant Digital Badge is at the discretion of each individual institution and is not guaranteed. Please verify with the college or university you are applying to if they can review your ACE/Credly transcript for a potential transfer of credit. Please see a sample of the transcript below:

The University of Texas at Arlington is currently accepting the Avant badge.

To see a list of ACE members click the button below. This list does not represent colleges and universities that accept ACE credit recommendations. ACE members are not obligated to, nor make guarantees to accept ACE credit recommendations.

See the list of ACE member institutions

How many college credits can be earned?

The actual number of credits awarded is at the discretion of the individual college or university. Based on the proficiency level earned, ACE recommends the following number of credits for each proficiency level earned.

Proficiency Level	ACE Credit Recommendation
Novice-High (STAMP Level 3)	4
Intermediate-Low (STAMP Level 4)	6
Intermediate-Mid (STAMP Level 5)	8
Intermediate-High (STAMP Level 6)	12
Advanced-Low (STAMP Level 7)	14
Advanced-Mid (STAMP Level 8)	16

Why is a digital certification badge important?

Students

Earn college credit for language proficiency skills with ACE’s credit recommendations. Open doors for taking higher-level courses, continuing to more advanced language learning, and earning a second major or minor to complement other studies.

See a sample pathway from the University of Texas at Arlington.

For Professionals

Demonstrate valuable language skills to employers. Individuals with skills in more than one language have more earning potential in their careers and are in higher demand.

Representing skills as a badge allows a language learner to provide concrete evidence of their language proficiency online in a way that is simple, trusted, and easily verified.

Can language learners earn more than one badge?

Yes! Language is a lifelong journey. As language skills improve, Avant STAMP or APT tests can be taken again to earn a higher-level badge for higher scores. It is important to showcase achievements along the way.

Badges can be earned in any or all of the Avant STAMP and APT languages offered.

What is an Avant Digital Badge for language proficiency?

Avant Digital Badges are web-enabled versions of a credential, certification or learning outcome of language proficiency that can be verified in real-time, online.

What if a test taker didn’t provide an email at the time of testing?

Test takers should contact their testing organization (e.g. school or employer) to update their email address. Email addresses must be updated in the Avant Results Report. Testing organizations can watch this tutorial on how to update email addresses.

How does a certification get displayed as a badge?

Digital certification badges translate the learning outcomes demonstrated into a badge, issued and managed through the company’s digital badging platform. The technology Credly uses is based on the Open Badge Standards maintained by IMS Global. This enables individuals to manage, share and verify their competencies digitally.

Does a digital badge have to be public?

Badge earners can easily configure their privacy settings in Credly. The account holder is in complete control of the information that is made public.

What’s to keep someone else from copying a badge and using it?

While badges are simply digital image files, they are uniquely linked to data hosted on Credly. This link to verified data makes them more reliable and secure than a paper-based certificate. It also eliminates the possibility of anyone claiming a credential and the associated identity.

Where and how can a badge be shared through Credly?

Share a badge directly from Credly to LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook; over email; embedded in a website or in an email signature.

Can badges issued through Credly be exported to other badge-storing platforms?

Yes, download a badge from the Share Badge page. The downloaded badge contains Open Badge Infrastructure (OBI) compliant metadata embedded into the image. This allows you to store your badge on other OBI-compliant badge sites, such as the Badger Backpack.

Is there Credly support?

Tutorials and answers to additional questions can be found here: support.credly.com

How is the Avant Digital Badge shared?

Avant Digital Badges are hosted on Credly.

Credly is a secure digital platform where individuals can create a free account to hold all their digital badges. Credly can send a transcript of the Avant Digital Badge directly to colleges and universities, employers, or anyone the account holder wants.

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