The National Spanish Examinations are online, standardized assessment tools given voluntarily by over 3000 teachers throughout the United States to measure proficiency and achievement of students who are studying Spanish as a
second language
A person's second language, or L2, is a language that is not the native language ( first language or L1) of the speaker, but is learned later. A second language may be a neighbouring language, another language of the speaker's home country, or a ...
.
The National Spanish Examinations are the chief assessment tool of the
American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese
The American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese is a language-specific professional association in the United States that was founded on December 29, 1917, in New York City as the American Association of Teachers of Spanish.
The na ...
.
Purpose
The purpose of the National Spanish Examination is
1. to recognize achievement in the study of the Spanish language
2. to promote proficiency in interpretive communication in the Spanish language
3. to assess the national standards as they pertain to learning Spanish
4. to stimulate further interest in the teaching and learning of Spanish
Also:
Many teachers state that they use the National Spanish Examination to prepare students to take other
standardized test
A standardized test is a test that is administered and scored in a consistent, or "standard", manner. Standardized tests are designed in such a way that the questions and interpretations are consistent and are administered and scored in a predete ...
s such as AP, IB,
SAT II and college placement exams.
Many administrators state that they can use data from the National Spanish Examination to create reports to show how their schools have improved over an
academic year
An academic year or school year is a period of time which schools, colleges and universities use to measure a quantity of study.
School holiday
School holidays (also referred to as vacations, breaks, and recess) are the periods during which sch ...
.
Awards and Scholarships
NSE provides awards and scholarships to both teachers who administer the test and to students who score well on the test.
Teacher awards - The National Spanish Examination (NSE) is committed to providing teachers with opportunities to continue their
professional development
Professional development is learning to earn or maintain professional credentials such as academic degrees to formal coursework, attending conferences, and informal learning opportunities situated in practice. It has been described as intensive ...
to design instruction and assessments from first-hand experiences with the Spanish language and culture. To this end, NSE offers scholarships for teachers to study abroad in Spain and Costa Rica through Modern Language Studies Abroad.
Student awards - NSE offers awards to students who score in the 75th percentile or better as follows:
* Gold medalists for students scoring at or above the 95th percentile
* Silver medalists for students scoring from the 85th through the 94th percentiles
* Bronze medalists for students scoring from the 75th through the 84th percentiles
Additionally, students who score in the 75th percentile or better may apply for:
* Global Citizen Scholarships for study at the Concordia Language Villages
* Junior Travel Awards
* Senior Scholarships
Staff
The National Spanish Examinations are headed by Kevin Cessna-Buscemi.
References
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External links
National Spanish ExaminationsAmerican Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese
Language education in the United States
Spanish language tests
Spanish language in the United States