wa-law.org > bill > 2025-26 > SB 5841 > Substitute Bill
The legislature finds that fully realizing the potential of high school and beyond plans as meaningful tools for articulating and revising pathways for graduation will require additional school counselors and family coordinators. The legislature further finds that the development and implementation of an online electronic platform for high school and beyond plans will be an appropriate and supportive action that will assist students, parents and guardians, educators, school counselors, and other staff who support students' career and college preparation as the legislature explores options for funding additional school counselors.
Beginning in the 2020-21 school year, each school district must ensure that an electronic high school and beyond plan platform is available to all students who are required to have a high school and beyond plan.
The office of the superintendent of public instruction shall facilitate the transition to a universal online high school and beyond plan platform that will ensure consistent and equitable access to the needed information and support to guide students' educational experience and ensure preparation for their postsecondary plans.
By January 1, 2024, the office of the superintendent of public instruction must develop a preliminary list of existing vendors who can provide or build a platform that meets the criteria outlined in subsection (4) of this section and that supports the high school and beyond plan elements identified in RCW 28A.230.212 and has the capabilities to support the new elements identified in section 5, chapter 271, Laws of 2023. The office of the superintendent of public instruction must submit the list of existing vendors and estimated costs associated with statewide implementation of the universal platform to the governor and the education policy and fiscal committees of the legislature.
Subject to the availability of amounts appropriated for this specific purpose, the office of the superintendent of public instruction must select the vendor that will be responsible for developing the universal platform by June 1, 2024.
By October 1, 2024, the office of the superintendent of public instruction must develop an implementation plan including both an estimated timeline and updated cost estimates, including the technical assistance, technology updates, ongoing maintenance requirements, and adjustments to the technology funding formula, and statewide professional development that may be needed, for completing full statewide implementation of the universal platform in all school districts. In the implementation plan, the office of the superintendent of public instruction may include a cost alternative for educational service districts to host the universal platform for school districts of the second class when such a district does not have sufficient technology resources to implement and maintain the universal platform.
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In addition to the requirements outlined in RCW 28A.230.212, the universal platform must have the capability to be routinely updated and modified in order to include the following elements and capabilities to ensure equity in high school and beyond plans implementation and engagement across the state that:
Enable students to create, personalize, and revise their high school and beyond plan;
Comply with all necessary state and federal requirements for student privacy and allow for students to opt in or opt out of portions of the universal platform related to third-party information sharing;
Use technology that can quickly be adapted to include future statutory changes, administrative changes, or both, as well as integrate enhancements to improve the features and functionality;
Facilitate the automatic import of academic course, credit, and grade data at a regular interval from the most commonly used district student information system platforms and manual import from less commonly used systems so that students' progress towards graduation in the high school and beyond plan is accurately reflected at any given time;
Allow for translation into the most common non-English languages across the state in accordance with the model language access policy and procedures as required under chapter 28A.183 RCW;
Include multiple and varied in-platform assessments with viewable results that can inform career and postsecondary goals including, but not limited to, personality, learning styles, interests, aptitudes, and skills assessments;
Include a catalog containing meaningful, high quality career exploration opportunities and resources beyond the traditional college, career, and aptitude assessments that are submitted by approved entities (community organizations, institutions of higher education that are authorized to participate in state financial aid programs under chapter 28B.92 RCW, and employers) and vetted by state-selected approvers that allow students to register for or apply to participate in the opportunities (programs, classes, internships, preapprenticeships, online courses, etc.) or access the resources. The universal platform should use completion data from these opportunities to make recommendations to students to include in their high school and beyond plans;
Provide a dedicated space in which to build a direct connection to potential employers, including industry associations, trade associations, labor unions, service branches of the military, nonprofit organizations, and other state and local community organizations so students can learn from experts in different occupational fields about career opportunities and any necessary education and training requirements;
ix. Provide a secure space for staff, parents or guardians, and approved community partners who support students' academic progress and career and college preparation, to make notes that can inform staff efforts to connect students to academic and career connected learning opportunities and develop support and credit recovery plans for students, as needed;
Provide indefinite access for students to their high school and beyond plan, regardless of current school affiliation or lack thereof, in both mobile and desktop applications, that includes the capability to download and print their plan in one document, without requiring students to access multiple screens;
Use in-state labor market, apprenticeship, and postsecondary education performance data, including employment and earning outcomes, certificate and degree completion outcomes, and demographics of enrolled students or employees, to inform students' exploration and consideration of postsecondary options;
Has a dedicated space where students can store additional evidence of their learning and postsecondary preparation, such as videos, essays, art, awards and recognitions, screencasts, letters of recommendation, industry certifications, microcredentials or other mastery-based learning recognitions, and work-integrated learning experiences. The universal platform should include the ability for students and staff to provide access to this portfolio in its entirety or in selected parts to relevant third parties, including institutions of higher education that are authorized to participate in state financial aid programs under chapter 28B.92 RCW, branches of the military, potential employers, or preapprenticeship opportunities;
Allow access to data reporting features that allow schools, districts, and state agencies to review data stored within the universal platform, and allow data to be broken down by demographic, socioeconomic, and other identified characteristics, for the purposes of analyzing student use of the universal platform, improving student access to the information, guidance, and opportunities that can help them maximize their secondary education experience and postsecondary preparation, and informing state-level support for high school and beyond plan implementation;
Provide a space for the student to indicate the graduation pathway option or options the student has selected to complete and how the selected option or options align with the student's career and postsecondary education goals;
Has the ability for school districts to customize or add features unique to local needs and local graduation requirements, including the capability to auto-align data with the local school districts' graduation requirements or the ability to enter those requirements manually; and
Import financial aid application data maintained by the Washington student achievement council to provide an easily accessible way for students, parents, and authorized school staff to view the student's progress and completion status of state and federal financial aid applications.
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Within two years of completing the universal platform development and alignment with the requirements in this section and RCW 28A.230.212, school districts must provide students with access to the adopted universal platform.
The office of the superintendent of public instruction must develop guidance and provide technical assistance and support for the facilitation of statewide professional development for school districts and partner organizations in using the universal platform.
In carrying out subsections (3)(b) and (4) of this section, the office of the superintendent of public instruction shall seek input from the state board of education, educators, school and district administrators, school counselors, career counseling specialists, families, students, the Washington student achievement council, institutions of higher education that are authorized to participate in state financial aid programs under chapter 28B.92 RCW, and community partners who support students' career and college preparation. The office of the superintendent of public instruction may partner with existing community and regional networks and organizations who support students' career and college preparation in the analysis, selection, and implementation of the universal platform.
As used in this section "universal platform" means the universal online high school and beyond plan platform.
The office of the superintendent of public instruction may adopt and revise rules as necessary to implement this section.
Each student must have a high school and beyond plan to guide the student's high school experience and inform course taking that is aligned with the student's goals for education or training and career after high school.
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By grade seven, each student must be administered a career interest and skills inventory which is intended to be used to inform grade eight course taking and development of an initial high school and beyond plan. No later than grade eight, each student must have begun development of a high school and beyond plan that includes a proposed plan for first-year high school courses aligned with graduation requirements and secondary and postsecondary goals.
For each student who has not earned a score of level 3 or 4 on the middle school mathematics assessment identified in RCW 28A.655.070 by grade nine, the high school and beyond plan must be updated to ensure that the student takes a mathematics course in both grades nine and 10. These courses may include career and technical education equivalencies in mathematics adopted pursuant to RCW 28A.230.097.
With staff support, students must update their high school and beyond plan annually, at a minimum, to review academic progress and inform future course taking.
The high school and beyond plan must be updated in grade 10 to reflect high school assessment results in RCW 28A.655.061, ensure student access to advanced course options per the district's academic acceleration policy in RCW 28A.320.195, assess progress toward identified goals, and revised as necessary for changing interests, goals, and needs.
Each school district shall provide students who have not met the standard on state assessments or who are behind in completion of credits or graduation pathway options with the opportunity to access interventions and academic supports, courses, or both, designed to enable students to meet all high school graduation requirements. The parents or legal guardians shall be notified about these opportunities as included in the student's high school and beyond plan, preferably through a student-led conference, including the parents or legal guardians, and at least annually until the student is on track to graduate.
For students with an individualized education program, the high school and beyond plan must be developed and updated in alignment with their school to postschool transition plan. The high school and beyond plan must be developed and updated in a similar manner and with similar school personnel as for all other students.
School districts shall involve parents and legal guardians to the greatest extent feasible in the process of developing and updating the high school and beyond plan.
High school and beyond plans must be provided to students and their parents or legal guardians in a language the students and parents or legal guardians understand and in accordance with the school district's language access policy and procedures as required under chapter 28A.183 RCW, which may require language assistance for students and parents or legal guardians with limited English proficiency.
School districts must annually provide students in grades eight through 12, and their parents or legal guardians, with comprehensive information about the graduation pathway options offered by the district and are strongly encouraged to begin providing this information to students in grade six. School districts must provide this information in a manner that conforms with the school district's language access policy and procedures as required under chapter 28A.183 RCW.
School districts are strongly encouraged to partner with student serving, community-based organizations that support career and college exploration and preparation for postsecondary and career pathways. Partnerships may include high school and beyond plan coordination and planning, data-sharing agreements, and safe and secure access to individual student's high school and beyond plans.
All high school and beyond plans must, at a minimum, include the following elements:
Identification of career goals and interests, aided by a skills and interest assessment;
Identification of secondary and postsecondary education and training goals;
An academic plan for course taking that:
Informs students about course options for satisfying state and local graduation requirements;
Satisfies state and local graduation requirements;
Aligns with the student's secondary and postsecondary goals, which can include education, training, and career preparation;
Identifies available advanced course sequences per the school district's academic acceleration policy, as described in RCW 28A.320.195, that include dual credit courses or other programs and are aligned with the student's postsecondary goals;
Informs students about the potential impacts of their course selections on postsecondary opportunities;
Identifies available career and technical education equivalency courses that can satisfy core subject area graduation requirements under RCW 28A.230.097;
If applicable, identifies career and technical education and work-based learning opportunities that can lead to technical college certifications and apprenticeships; and
If applicable, identifies opportunities for credit recovery and acceleration, including partial and mastery-based credit accrual to eliminate barriers for on-time grade level progression and graduation per RCW 28A.320.192;
Evidence that the student has received the following information on federal and state financial aid programs that help pay for the costs of a postsecondary program:
The college bound scholarship program established in chapter 28B.118 RCW, the Washington college grant created in RCW 28B.92.200, the Washington opportunity scholarship established in chapter 28B.145 RCW, and other scholarship opportunities;
The documentation necessary for completing state and federal financial aid applications; application timeliness and submission deadlines; and the importance of submitting applications early;
Information specific to students who are or have been the subject of a dependency proceeding pursuant to chapter 13.34 RCW, who are or are at risk of being homeless, and whose family member or legal guardian will be required to provide financial and tax information necessary to complete applications;
Opportunities to participate in advising days and seminars that assist students and, when necessary, their parents or legal guardians, with filling out financial aid applications in accordance with RCW 28A.300.815; and
A sample financial aid letter and a link to the financial aid calculator created in RCW 28B.77.280; and
Any decision on whether a student has met the state board of education's requirements for a high school and beyond plan shall remain at the local level, and a school district may establish additional, local requirements for a high school and beyond plan to serve the needs and interests of its students and the purposes of this section.
The state board of education shall adopt rules to implement this section.