Effective October 1st, 2011, teacher candidates applying for Spanish designated assignments with Denver Public Schools will be required to successfully complete a Spanish language proficiency exam proctored by the Berlitz Corporation. The district has partnered with Berlitz to facilitate and proctor this exam.

Note: All teachers who were hired into an ELA-S designated position before October 1st, 2011, will complete the testing process they began with the Office of Multicultural Outreach.

Cost and Reimbursement Process

Each test attempt (speaking, reading and writing) costs $150.00. Once a candidate successfully completes the exam and is hired to perform in the capacity of an ELA-S designated assignment, he or she can submit a request for $150 in reimbursement via the ProComp system. To see more about Procomp, visit http://denverprocomp.dpsk12.org/

About the Exam

Administered by Berlitz, the Spanish Language Proficiency (SLP) Exam for teachers consists of three components:  oral, written and reading.

Applicants new to Denver Public Schools or internal teachers who change assignments into ELA-S positions must pass all portions of the SLP Exam to be considered by the Department of Human Resources as Spanish-qualified applicants.

If an applicant fails the written and/or reading portions of the exam, he or she is allowed to retake that portion of the test only two more times. Applicants must wait 30 days between test administrations.

Both the initial exam and any portion that must be retaken can be scheduled at your convenience via the Berlitz Testing Coordinator dedicated to Denver Public Schools.

Oral Interview and Passing Score

The Berlitz Test of Speaking Skills is a validated oral proficiency testing system designed to accurately measure the examinee’s active oral communicative ability in a professional setting. This testing system is based on a guided 20-minute dialogue between the Berlitz Rater and the examinee by telephone. Our raters are native-fluent in their test languages and trained to lead a Berlitz Test of Speaking Skills in a professional and pleasant manner.

Through a series of questions, prompts, and tasks set in a professional context, the Berlitz Rater elicits oral language production from the examinee. It is measured in the areas of fluency, grammatical accuracy, lexical range, and phonological control. Results are based on the Common European Framework—one of the most widely used and recognized language proficiency scales in the world.

The passing score is 4-5 using a DPS 1-5 scale. See the rubric and the descriptors for each score.

Written Component and Passing Score

Examinees can choose between two topics. Both topics are related to school situations. Grading is based on a rubric. Click here to see the rubric used to score the written component of the SLP.

The passing score is 4-5 using a DPS 1-5 scale. See the rubric and the descriptors for each score.

Reading Comprehension Component and Passing Score

The reading test consists of five paragraphs with 25 questions.

The passing score is 18 correct answers minimum using a DPS 1-25 possible reading comprehension answer test.

Exam Results

Denver Public Schools will email results to candidates once a week on each Friday.

Results Dispute Process

Any dispute of results must be addressed using Berlitz guidelines.  Please contact the DPS HR Connect team at 720-423-3900 if you plan to start a dispute process.