Checkpoint B Assessment Guidance
Pursuant to the implementation of the NYS Learning Standards for World Languages, the first assessments that are required to be aligned to the revised standards will be the June 2027 Checkpoint B assessments. The Office of Bilingual Education and World Languages has provided both a guidance document and a webinar explaining the guidance (for Modern Languages Other Than American Sign Language) to assist educators in designing and evaluating locally developed Checkpoint B assessments.
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 B 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 French, German, Italian, and Spanish (other category 1-2 languages that are less commonly taught are: Afrikaans, Danish, Dutch, Haitian Creole, Indonesian, Malaysian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Romanian, 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:
- Checkpoint B proficiency range for category 1-2 languages: Intermediate Low to Intermediate Mid
Webpage last updated on July 28, 2025