Northeast Metro Tech, the regional vocational high school in Wakefield that Chelsea sends students to, has received three awards from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education for its State Seal of Biliteracy program in the 2024-2025 school year. The school announced the awards in a release dated October 28. Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education Pedro Martinez presented them on October 26 at the fall convening of the Multilingual Education Leaders Network.
The three awards
The first is the Gold Star Award, which according to the school goes to schools where at least 20 percent of graduates earn the State Seal of Biliteracy while meeting equity benchmarks. The second is the College, Career and Technical Education Access Commendation, for expanding Seal of Biliteracy opportunities to students in career and technical programs. The third is the Inclusive Access Commendation, for giving students with disabilities access to the program.
Sandra Carreno, the school’s Seal of Biliteracy coordinator, accepted the awards. In the release she said the recognition was meaningful because it treats students’ language skills and cultural backgrounds as strengths, and that the seal lets students take pride in being multilingual while opening doors to further education and careers. Superintendent David DiBarri said the awards reflect the school’s commitment to making the program available to every student.
What the seal is
The State Seal of Biliteracy is a credential, created by the 2017 LOOK Act, that goes on the diploma of a graduate who shows proficiency in English and at least one other language. To earn it, a student has to meet all graduation requirements, pass the English Language Arts MCAS and score the equivalent of a 4 on an Advanced Placement language exam. A seal with distinction requires advanced MCAS scores and the equivalent of a 5.
The Chelsea connection
Chelsea is one of the twelve cities and towns that send students to Northeast Metro Tech, and Chelsea students have been among the recipients. When the school announced its 2025 seal recipients in July of that year, 85 students had earned the seal and two of them earned it in two languages, for 87 seals in all. Sixty-two were for English and Spanish, 13 for English and Portuguese and two for English and Haitian Creole. The school’s photo captions from that ceremony named five Chelsea students among the recipients: Jesus Martinez, Steven Romero, Nayeli Marquez, Luz Estrada and Josseline Munoz.
In the 2025 release, Carreno, who also heads the school’s English Learner Education department, made the case for the seal in trade terms: workers in the trades use other languages every day with clients, supervisors, suppliers and co-workers, and a second language is an asset after graduation. Health Assisting had the most recipients that year with 15, followed by Drafting and Design with 10.
The release does not say how many Northeast Metro Tech graduates earned the seal in the 2024-2025 class that the Gold Star Award covers, or what share of them came from Chelsea. Chelsea High School runs its own Seal of Biliteracy program through Chelsea Public Schools; its 2025 numbers are not part of this announcement.