Credit through testing

Credit Through Testing (CTT) Overview LCPS WLC Website

Loudoun County Public Schools allows students with the ability to comprehend and communicate in languages other than English, to earn high school credits through State-approved world language assessments. The Credit Through Testing (CTT) exam measures students’ language proficiency in order to award one, two, or three high school world language credits. 

The Credit Through Testing (CTT) exam is designed to assess students’ first language proficiency and is available for students in grades 9 through 12 only, whose first language is not English. The exam requires a student to read and comprehend exam instructions and writing prompts in the first language. The student must be able to write two well-developed essays in the exam language, each consisting of at least three cohesive paragraphs on two topics. 

The Credit Through Testing exam is offered each November. Students may take the exam two times per language while in high school. For SY 2024-2025, the following 27 languages will be available for assessment using the state-approved Rubric. These represent where 50 or more students in grades 9-12 speak the language as a first language at home: American Sign Language, Amharic, Arabic, Bengali, Chinese/Mandarin, Farsi, French, German, Gujarati, Hindi, Japanese, Kannada, Korean, Malayalam, Marathi, Nepali, Pashto, Punjabi, Russian, Sanskrit, Spanish, Tagalog/Filipino, Tamil, Telugu, Turkish, Urdu, and Vietnamese.

*Latin will be offered this SY 2024-25 through ALIRA

Students may register for the CTT through the Language Assessment Reporting System (LARS). The link is found under the Student Opportunities portal in LCPSGO. A confirmation ticket will be sent to the student and the parent/ guardian email on file.  Please see a World Language teacher or your counselor if you need help registering.

• Registration opens on Thursday, August 22, 2024

• Registration closes on Sunday, October 20, 2024. 

 (2024 CTT exam testing dates - November 7, November 12, November 14, and December 4. More information can be found under Credit through Testing Dates and Locations). 

Students who pass the exam will also meet the language proficiency requirement to earn the Seal of Biliteracy at graduation. We will continue to use nationally-normed tests such as STAMP, AAPPL, OPI, OPIc, and the WPT to meet the requirement for the State Seal of Biliteracy.

Virginia Governor's World Language Academies  - VDOE website to be updated for 2025

Since 1987, VDOE has sponsored Governor's World Language Academies, summer residential programs for Virginia's most motivated and talented world language students. As of 2023, more than 10,300 students have completed one of the programs. The 2024 Governor's Summer Residential World Language Academies will include full-immersion academies in French, German and Spanish; a partial-immersion Japanese Academy; and a Latin Academy.

Purpose and Background of the World Language Academies

LCPS World Languages and Cultures Department 

Seal of Bi-literacy

As of the fall semester in 2016, Freedom High School offers senior students the opportunity to qualify for the Virginia Board of Education's distinction, the Seal of Bi-literacy, on their diploma. 

The State Seal of Biliteracy is an award given to graduating high school seniors, regardless of diploma type, that have attained proficiency in English and one or more languages.

In awarding the Seal of Biliteracy to graduating seniors who met the requirements we seek to:

1.  Prepare students for our 21st-century global society;

2. The development of literacy in two or more languages is known to offer significant advantages to students, such as increasing mental flexibility, divergent thinking and mathematical problem-solving;

3. Encourage students to develop and maintain biliteracy and multilingual skills;

4. Recognize and honor our rich and diverse language assets our students possess;

5. Promote the early study of world languages;

6. Strengthen intergroup relationships, affirm the value of diversity, and honor the multiple cultures and languages of a community; and

7. Provide employers and universities with a method of identifying people with language and biliteracy skills.

Seniors must meet and comply with the assessments(s), criteria, languages and window set forth by the Commonwealth of Virginia's Department of Education and Loudoun County Public Schools.  Students may apply through the Email World Languages department chair and/or the Counseling director.  Please refer questions to the Counseling director or department chair.