The state board of education shall review the profile of a graduate recommended by the mastery-based learning work group under section 1 of this act. The state board of education may consider modifications to the profile based on public comment and shall submit a report outlining its findings and recommendations to the governor and the education committees of the house of representatives and the senate by December 31, 2022.
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As part of the report developed under subsection (1) of this section, the state board of education may submit recommendations to align graduation requirements under RCW 28A.230.090 and 28A.655.250 with the profile of a graduate. Any recommended additional graduation pathway options or changes to graduation pathway options must be established by statute and cannot be added by rule alone.
In developing the recommendations, the state board of education shall consider:
Whether changes to the core subject area requirements, flexible credits, and noncredit requirements should be made and what those changes should be;
The relationship between credits and core subject area requirements; and
How the following components of the high school diploma work together as a system of graduation requirements designed to declare that a student is ready for success in postsecondary education, gainful employment, and civic engagement and is equipped with the skills to be a lifelong learner: The high school and beyond plan and the credit and subject area graduation requirements under RCW 28A.230.090 and the graduation pathway options under RCW 28A.655.250.
This section expires December 31, 2023.
This section modifies existing section 28A.655.260. Here is the modified chapter for context.
The superintendent of public instruction shall collect the following information from school districts: Which of the graduation pathways under RCW 28A.655.250 are available to students at each of the school districts; and the number of students using each graduation pathway for graduation purposes. This information shall be reported annually to the education committees of the legislature beginning January 10, 2021. To the extent feasible, data on student participation in each of the graduation pathways shall be disaggregated by race, ethnicity, gender, and receipt of free or reduced-price lunch.
Beginning August 1, 2019, the state board of education shall survey interested parties regarding what additional graduation pathways should be added to the existing graduation pathways identified in RCW 28A.655.250 and whether modifications should be made to any of the existing pathways. Interested parties shall include at a minimum: High school students; recent high school graduates; representatives from the state board for community and technical colleges and four-year higher education institutions; representatives from the apprenticeship and training council; associations representing business; members of the educational opportunity gap oversight and accountability committee; and associations representing educators, school board members, school administrators, superintendents, and parents. The state board of education shall provide reports to the education committees of the legislature by August 1, 2020, and December 10, 2022, summarizing the information collected in the surveys.
Using the data reported by the superintendent of public instruction under subsection (1) of this section, the state board of education shall survey a sampling of the school districts unable to provide all of the graduation pathways under RCW 28A.655.250 in order to identify the types of barriers to implementation school districts have. Using the survey results from this subsection and the survey results collected under subsection (2) of this section, the state board of education shall review the existing graduation pathways, suggested changes to those graduation pathways, and the options for additional graduation pathways, and shall provide a report to the education committees of the legislature by December 10, 2022, on the following:
Recommendations on whether changes to the existing pathways should be made and what those changes should be;
The barriers school districts have to offering all of the graduation pathways and recommendations for ways to eliminate or reduce those barriers for school districts;
Whether all students have equitable access to all of the graduation pathways and, if not, recommendations for reducing the barriers students may have to accessing all of the graduation pathways; and
Whether additional graduation pathways should be included and recommendations for what those pathways should be.