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January 31, 2025

World Language Leaders Bonus Bulletin

The NCDPI World Languages Team would like to share this World Language Leaders Bonus Bulletin for the 2024 - 2025 school year in addition to the regular quarterly bulletins. Please see the information below about the course code changes for 2025 - 2026, as well as upcoming professional development where we will be learning together about the 2024 Standard Course of Study (SCoS) for World Languages, which will be implemented for the first time starting in Fall 2025.

• Course Code Changes for 2025 - 2026
  • Condensed K-8 course codes for Classical and Modern Language Programs
  • New Level I and Level II course codes for Honors offerings, including Heritage Level I
• Upcoming PD for World Language Leaders
  • K-20 World Language Leaders Meetings
  • Standards Implementation Train-the-Trainer Regional Workshops

Course Code Changes for 2025 - 2026

The 2024 Standard Course of Study (SCoS) for World Languages and its support tools, such as the Proficiency Outcomes Document, included several changes to course titles and options for offerings in local sequences. As a result, there are a number of revised and new course codes for various programs that will be implemented starting in 2025 - 2026. Please see the summaries below for details, and know that these changes impact all of the language-specific course codes:

• American Sign Language (ASL)
• Arabic
• Cherokee
• Chinese
• French
• German
• Greek (Modern)
• Hebrew
• Italian
• Japanese
• Korean
• Latin
• Russian
• Spanish
• Tamil
• Telugu
• Urdu

There are also sets of course codes for Other Classical Languages and Other Modern Languages, which are used when a district or charter school is introducing or establishing a new language program before there are language-specific course codes. The changes described below are also in place as of 2025 - 2026 for these languages, which are:

• Other Classical Languages - Ancient Greek, Sanskrit, etc.
• Other Modern Languages - Danish, Hindi, Portuguese, Turkish, Vietnamese, etc.

2025 - 2026 Course Code Master List The 2025 - 2026 Course Codes have been updated and are now available in PowerSchool. You can access the spreadsheet on the PowerSchool Resources page under Courses or on its own page at https://www.dpi.nc.gov/2025-2026-course-code-master-list where you can download the most recently updated spreadsheet. Please use the details below, as well as the various tabs in the 2025 - 2026 Course Code Master LIst, to become familiar with the new and revised World Language course codes: New Course Codes tab - Level I and Level II with honors option Disabled Course Codes tab - K-8 for 3-6 years of study that have been removed Name Changes tab - K-8 revised to encompass up to 6 years of study with new course names shortened to reflect the changes on the K-8 proficiency outcomes charts for the standards

Condensed K-8 Course Codes

Classical and Modern Language Programs

The World Languages Data Review Committee (DRC) and Standards Writing Team (SWT) understood from the field's feedback that there were too many K-8 course codes, which made them difficult to use accurately. This was particularly true for Foreign Language in the Elementary School (FLES) courses, but also for middle school courses that do not earn high school credit, because of the scheduling variations implemented to reach a minimum of 90 minutes per week of instruction in order for students to build proficiency.

The solution was to condense the K-8 course codes so that: 1) there are just three for each grade span, 2) they reflect how proficiency grows across time; and 3) they reuse the same course names to help with placement of students as they progress in a K-12 sequence. 

The table above summarizes the changes for K-8, and the French examples below show how the 7-digit state course code and title look. The first four digits are for the language, followed by a 2 in the 5th digit for Standard, a Z or Y in the 6th digit for elementary or middle school (respectively), and a number in the 7th digit to show progression in a K-5, 6-8, or K-8 program.

• 11002Z0 French Beginning (FLES) and 11002Y0 French Beginning (middle school)
• 11002Z1 or 11002Y1 French Continuing
• 11002Z2 or 11002Y2 French Extending

As always, the 8th, 9th, and 10th digit of a course code are optional but reserved for local use to indicate scheduling arrangements, section/teacher assignments, and so on.

Also, there are NO CHANGES to the following K-8 course codes:

• Exploratory Language (12752Z0 or 12752Y0) for course offerings that do not meet the 90 minutes per week minimum and/or are not designed to build proficiency but offered as a brief
  introduction to a language or languages, which are sometimes referred to as part of the “wheel,” that lay the foundation for future interest in proficiency-based language study.
• DL/I Literacy for target language arts courses that build proficiency in reading, writing, etc. as part of a dual language/immersion (DL/I) program.

New Level I and Level II Course Codes for Honors Offerings

Classical, Heritage, and Modern Language Programs

The World Languages Data Review Committee (DRC) and Standards Writing Team (SWT) also responded to the feedback from the field about the need to have the opportunity to offer Level I and Level II courses as either Standard or Honors. During part of the revision phase, there was also a a proposal to create accelerated courses that would combine Levels I-II into a single course, but that is no longer being considered.

Starting in the 2025 - 2026 school year, World Language Level I and Level II courses, including Level I Heritage, will be able to be offered as Standard or Honors. The Spanish examples below show how the 7-digit state course codes and titles look. The first three digits are for the language, the fourth digit is the level, and they are followed by a 2 for Standard or a 5 for Honors in the 5th digit. Then there's an X for high school and the 7th digit is a 0 placeholder.

• 11412X0 Spanish I or 11415X0 Spanish I Honors
• 11422X0 Spanish II or 11425X0 Spanish II Honors
• 11492X0 Spanish Heritage I or 11495X0 Spanish Heritage I Honors

As always, the 8th, 9th, and 10th digit of a course code are optional but reserved for local use to indicate scheduling arrangements, section/teacher assignments, and so on.

Also, there are NO CHANGES to the following:

• Inherently Honors course codes for Levels III - VI Classical Languages, Level II Heritage Languages, and Levels III - VIII Modern Languages, which always have a 5 for Honors in the 5th digit followed by an X for high school. Please see GRAD-009 High School Transcript Standards policy for additional information.
• High School credit course codes for middle school students still have a 2 for Standard in the 5th digit followed by a Y for middle school because they count toward graduation requirements and appear on high school transcripts, but are not included in the calculation of students' high school GPA per CCRE-001 Course for Credit policy. The variations in the 7th digit (0, A, B) are also unchanged so that middle schools have flexibility to offer high school credit courses over one academic year or split over two academic years, Part A and Part B.
• Advanced Programs course codes for Advanced Placement (AP), Cambridge International Education (CIE), early college, and International Baccalaureate (IB) remain the same. Please see the Advanced Programs page  for more information, as well as the Crosswalks page that features the Alignment of World Language High School Courses with Community College Courses document. Both of these pages are under the Administrator & Program Resources category in the World Languages Resources Hub.

NCDPI's Office of Teaching and Learning, formerly the Office of Academic Standards, is combining two conferences, The Standards Academy and Growing Success for Multilingual Learners (MLs), into one event during the Summer of 2025 that will be offered in two locations, which can also be seen on the flyer in this article. West in Buncombe County on June 24 - 26 East in Chatham County on July 22 - 24 The annual Standards Academy will feature at least two World Languages sessions, one focused on the Initial Implementation of the 2024 SCoS for World Languages, which will begin in the 2025 - 2026 school year, and the other delving into World Language Honors Level I and II Courses using the guidance and tools from the Office of Advanced Learning and Gifted Education, along with other support documents and resources.

Upcoming PD for World Language Leaders

K-20 World Language Leaders Meetings There are two more World Language Leaders meetings this year, on February 12 and April 2, which will be held virtually from 9:00 am-12:00 pm on those Wednesdays. We discuss policy changes, explore resources for the new standards, and collaborate on ideas about local questions and issues. It would be ideal to have one representative from every Public School Unit (PSU), or district and charter school, so that individual can be part of the statewide conversation and take information back for their PLCs, department meetings, or other local convenings. Note: Any K-12 World Language leader (central office personnel, building or department head, or other educator designated to gather information about World Language programs and standards) can participate as their PSU's representative. Please click on the K-20 World Language Leaders Meetings flyer in this article, which is housed in Canva, to submit your registration for the upcoming meetings and/or access the slides and recordings from past meetings. The flyer can also be accessed at go.ncdpi.gov/K-20WLLmeetings.

Standards Implementation Train-the-Trainer Regional Workshops

The World Language Standards Implementation Workshops will be in-person and offered in each of the eight regions of the state (see map below) from late February - early April, 2025. These workshops are designed as a train-the-trainer series that will consist of a morning session from 8:30-11:30 am focused on the new standards and the updated support tools for their implementation, and an afternoon session from 12:30-3:30 pm dedicated to planning with the new standards, networking with other participants in the region, and integrating the Literacy Instruction Standards (LIS) into World Language courses and programs.

Notes:

• Registration is flexible and will allow participants to indicate whether they are signing up for the 6-hour option with both sessions or one of the 3-hour sessions (morning or afternoon) depending on their needs and/or schedules.
• There are 50 seats at each location to ensure that every Public School Unit (PSU), or district and charter school, can send one (1) representative as their trainer. If your PSU representative would like to attend in a different region due to the date or location, please submit those details on the regional registration form where they would like to participate, and they will be transferred.
• If your PSU would like to have multiple trainers, please have each additional individual submit a registration form to be placed on the waiting list. They will need to include information on the form about their role as a trainer in the PSU and how to prioritize multiple trainers from the same PSU as slots are filled at each regional site.

Registration is open for the World Language Standards Implementation Workshops and each region's form can be accessed by using the embedded links in this article or by clicking on the map below.

Feel free to view the World Languages Registrations for Regional Workshops spreadsheet to see if a trainer from your PSU has already submitted their registration information. If so, your PSU's row will be highlighted in green.

Connect with NCDPI World Languages

Dr. Ann Marie Gunter, K-12 World Languages Consultant

Find a date and time to meet: https://go.ncdpi.gov/ConnectWL

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