Conceptualized in 1992 by the Minnesota Coalition for the Articulation of Language Teaching, a consortium of language teachers and administrators representing the major educational systems in the state, the Minnesota Articulation Project grew out of a shared concern that too many students were not persisting with their language learning in a sustained manner and that too few students were achieving high levels of proficiency.

The work of the Minnesota Articulation Project (MNAP) was dedicated to the concept that, in order for students to be prepared to participate in the global community, it is essential that they learn languages other than English. The project’s work revolved around two core values: continuity and persistence. Students learn another language best when their language study has continuity, i.e., when they pursue an uninterrupted course of study from their very first class in the language. Students also need to persist in their language studies so that they are able to attain high levels of proficiency. As the need for high levels of proficiency is recognized in the state and across the nation, the need for coordinated and continuous language learning beginning in elementary school and continuing in middle school, high school, and college will follow. The work done by the Minnesota Articulation Project provided some key resources to support the process of developing and maintaining strong, articulated, proficiency-oriented language instruction.

The Minnesota Articulation Project involved over fifty world language professionals representing 23 public schools and post-secondary institutions (both public and private) throughout the state of Minnesota. The MNAP members worked together from 1993-1997 to develop a model for articulating French, German, and Spanish language instruction with an emphasis on the transition from high school to postsecondary study.

The project began in September 1993 with major support from the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE), and later that year the project received another grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). To begin the project, the MNAP members concentrated their efforts on establishing a common ground among the initial group of twenty-two language instructors. During the first year, the group had many workshops and discussions to inform the development of a common philosophy on proficiency-based curriculum, agree on performance standards, and conduct a large scale pilot test of 1,000 students using the University of Minnesota's proficiency-based Entrance Standard tests for reading, writing and listening. From these early discussions, the group crafted a statement entitled "Characteristics of Proficiency-Oriented Language Instruction."

During the 1994-1995 academic year, the members actively focused on assessment issues with the support of the staff members from the Assessment Team at CARLA. The group agreed to use a modified Simulated Oral Proficiency Interview (SOPI) for the oral testing component in the assessment battery. The group conducted a field test of over 700 students in the spring of 1995, and the results indicated that the new SOPI tests were successful assessments for oral proficiency. In May, a competition was run for new members of the project, which led to an expansion of the project, by August 1995, from 22 to 44 project members.

In the fall of 1995, the expanded membership was reconfigured into three teams focused on assessment, curriculum and political action , which enabled the project membership to concentrate their efforts and move more quickly toward project goals.

The MNAP Assessment Team worked in three separate groups, each focused on the development of tests for one modality in each of the three major languages of study (French, German, and Spanish). The writing assessment group worked on the completion of two forms of an assessment in each of the three languages; the reading assessment group also focused on the development of two forms. The speaking group, which had basically completed the development of three forms of a Simulated Oral Proficiency Interview (SOPI) in each targeted language, focused their efforts on the creation of training materials for teachers to administer the tests and develop their own SOPIs.

The unique thrust of this test development has been the contextualization of the tests and the focus on using authentic materials for test items. Throughout the process, each group worked on creating, evaluating, and revising items for the assessments and conducted ongoing piloting of test items in their schools. This gave constant feedback to the CARLA Assessment Team, which was intimately involved with the development of the tests. The Minnesota Language Proficiency Assessments (MLPA) were rigorously pilot-tested in the spring of 1997 with over 4,200 students taking one or more tests. They are now available for use nationally.

The MNAP Curriculum Team focused exclusively on the development of a handbook for teachers on proficiency-oriented instruction and assessment. Published in November 1997 through the CARLA working paper series, this manual gives teachers throughout the country a solid framework and practical ideas for making a paradigm shift to a communicative approach. The handbook includes an outline of standards/outcomes, a description of the philosophy developed collaboratively by the Minnesota Articulation Project membership, an in-depth resource section for teachers of French, German, and Spanish, and for other languages, and samples of classroom activities which incorporate classroom-based assessment and instructional strategies that are aligned with the national Standards for Foreign Language Learning. Once initial decisions regarding the scope and emphasis of the handbook were made, the team, under the direction of Professor Diane Tedick, created and collected tasks and activities for the handbook. With the aid of two graduate assistants from the Second Languages and Cultures Education program at the University of Minnesota, over seventy-five tasks and activities from over 100 foreign language teachers throughout the state of Minnesota and throughout the country were collected. These were condensed, through a process of rigorous evaluation and refinement, into forty stellar examples of proficiency-oriented curricular materials. The MNAP's Proficiency-Oriented Language Instruction and Assessment: A Curriculum Handbook for Teachers is available for purchase through the CARLA working paper series. Sample tasks from the Handbook is available for examination from this web site.

The MNAP Political Action Team's ambitious agenda included reconfirming the commitment from the Minnesota Coalition for the Articulation of Language Instruction (MCALI) membership which spawned the Minnesota Articulation Project, increasing awareness of the project throughout key constituent groups such as the Minnesota Association of School Counselors and the Minnesota Parent Teacher Association, and creating a plan for implementing testing sites throughout the state of Minnesota. The Political Action Team members worked on the development of publicity materials which were widely distributed throughout the CARLA network. The team also organized an informational breakfast meeting in May 1996 and invited over thirty high-level administrators and faculty of MCALI, in order to reconnect with this important group of stakeholders who had initially conceived the Minnesota Articulation Project. Beginning in fall 1996, the Political Action Team worked more closely with the Graduation Standards office of the Minnesota Department of Children, Families, and Learning to facilitate a connection between graduation standards development and efforts toward articulation. This relationship continued through the Proficiency-Oriented Language Instruction and Assessment (POLIA) Train-the-Trainer program (1997-1999).

The work continues....

Though funding for the project officially ended in 1997, many members of the Minnesota Articulation Project have continued to work with state officials and with teachers throughout the state to ensure the development of a strong, vital language program as Minnesota moves into the implementation of state standards.

The work of MNAP provided a strong foundation for the Proficiency-Oriented Language Instruction and Assessment (POLIA) Train-the-Trainer program which prepared fifty world language teachers as trainers and supported the delivery of workshops on the principles and practices of POLIA to over 700 world language teachers throughout Minnesota. In recognition of the fine work done through the Minnesota Articulation Project, the Modern Language Association invited members of the MNAP to form a Mentor Team to help other states in their process of articulation.

Perhaps the most important legacy of the Minnesota Articulation Project has been the development of a dedicated network of foreign language teachers across the state of Minnesota. These teachers are not only committed to the concepts of language program articulation, they are also highly trained in the proficiency-oriented language instruction concepts and assessment techniques. These teachers exhibit "best practices" in their teaching and will serve as powerful advocates for continuing articulation efforts in the years to come. The teachers involved in the Minnesota Articulation Project consistently commented on evaluations that the largest benefit derived from their involvement in the project was the opportunity it gave them to connect with fellow foreign language teachers across languages and educational systems throughout Minnesota. In the words of one MNAP participant:

"The most important result of this project was bringing together people from public, private, secondary and post-secondary institutions to discuss and interchange ideas. We have all learned more about each other’s situations and this, I’m sure, has made for a far greater understanding and consolidation of goals among language teachers across the state of Minnesota. The second important result was the development of assessment materials and curriculum materials that can be used together to improve the teaching of foreign language, especially in the light of the new National and State Standards development. We have put together a firm base on which to improve language instruction and assess how we are doing that. Only by bringing us all together to discuss, argue and create could these goals have begun to be defined, and possibly achieved. Personally, this has been a very positive and professionally fulfilling experience. " --(July 1997)