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World Languages

World Languages

Assessment Guidance

Locally Developed Exams

All Checkpoint A and B exams are considered "locally developed exams", that is, they are not developed by the New York State Education Department.  Checkpoint A and B exams may be developed by a school, a district, a consortium of schools or districts, or a vendor.  Regardless of who develops the exam, all Checkpoint A and B exams must follow the assessment guidance issued by NYSED guidance.

OBEWL has offered resources, webinars, and in-person workshops on Checkpoint benchmark assessment guidance and design.  A particularly useful document for developing assessment items aligned to the NYS Learning Standards for World Languages is Writing Quality Assessment Items for Interpretive, Interpersonal, and Presentational Communication with Examples.

June 2026 Regents Exam Schedule - suggested date for locally developed Checkpoint Benchmark Exams is Monday, June 22, 2026.  (Since the Checkpoint exams are locally developed, schools may administer these exams on a date of their choice.  If schools use a vendor-made exam, it is important to consult with the vendor regarding any restrictions they may have on the administration date of their exam.)

For frequently asked questions regarding assessments, please consult the World Language FAQ.   

 

 

Checkpoint A Guidance

Scoring Guides for Checkpoint A

OBEWL has created easy-to-use scoring guides for Checkpoint A Interpersonal and Presentational tasks.  These scoring guides include rubrics aligned to the Checkpoint A proficiency targets (Novice Mid to Novice High) written in student-friendly language that can be used to score student work for formative, end-of-unit summative, and Checkpoint Benchmark assessments.  As the proficiency targets for Checkpoint A are the same for category 1-2 and category 3-4 languages, these scoring guides can be used for all modern languages.  These scoring guides are available in both Word format and PDF.

  • Checkpoint A Interpersonal Scoring Guide (Word, PDF)
  • Checkpoint A Presentational Scoring Guide (Word, PDF) 

 

 

Checkpoint B Guidance

Principles and Guidelines for Adopting or Creating Locally Developed Benchmark Assessments for Checkpoint B - Modern Languages (other than ASL)   (Click here to access the webinar associated with this guidance document.)

Guidance documents for Classical Languages and ASL for Checkpoint B are currently in development and are anticipated to be released in the fall of 2025.

Scoring Guides for Checkpoint B

OBEWL has created easy-to-use scoring guides for Checkpoint A Interpersonal and Presentational tasks.  These scoring guides include rubrics aligned to the Checkpoint B proficiency targets written in student-friendly language that can be used to score student work for formative, end-of-unit summative, and Checkpoint Benchmark assessments.  Modern languages are divided into two categories based on the number of instructional hours required to earn proficiency.  Category 1-2 languages include Afrikaans, Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Haitian Creole, Indonesian, Italian, Malaysian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish, Swahili, and Swedish.  All other modern languages, including American Sign Language, are classified as Category 3-4 languages.  The Checkpoint B proficiency targets for each category and corresponding scoring guides for Interpersonal and Presentational communication are as follows:

  • Category 1-2 languages Proficiency Range:  Intermediate Low to Intermediate Mid
    • Checkpoint B Interpersonal Scoring Guide (Word, PDF)
    • Checkpoint B Presentational Scoring Guide (Word, PDF)
  • Category 3-4 languages Proficiency Range:  Novice High to Intermediate Low
    • Checkpoint B Interpersonal Scoring Guide (Word, PDF)
    • Checkpoint B Presentational Scoring Guide (Word, PDF)

 

 

4+1 Pathway exams in World Languages

4+1 Pathway exams in world languages are now available in 15 languages: American Sign Language, Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Greek (modern), Hebrew, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish.  These are special Checkpoint B exams that, when passed, fulfill the world language exam requirement of the Regents Diploma with Advanced Designation AND can be used as the fifth Regents Examination required for graduation.  Click here for more information on the approved assessments for the 4+1 Pathway in world languages.

 

 

Archives of previously NYSED-developed examinations

Archives of previously NYSED-developed examinations (2002 - 2011) for both Checkpoints are available at the links below.  These past examinations may be used for practice with students, however, best practice dictates that publicly available exam content should not be used on Checkpoint Benchmark exams that students take to earn diploma credit.

 

 

Webpage last updated on July 25, 2025.