Graduation Requirements.
To qualify for a high school diploma, public school students must satisfy credit and subject area requirements established by the Legislature and the State Board of Education (SBE), fulfill any locally established requirements, complete a High School and Beyond Plan (HSBP), and meet the requirements of at least one graduation pathway option. 
 
Although graduation requirements are largely developed at the state level and subject to frequent revisions, determinations about student compliance with statewide requirements are made at the local level.
 
High School and Beyond Plan.
General Requirements.  Each student must complete an HSBP.  The purpose of the HSBP is 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.
 
The HSBP must be initiated for students during grades seven or eight and must contain specific, minimum elements prescribed in statute, including the identification of career and education goals, information about dual credit programs, a four-year plan for high school course taking, and certain scholarship and financial aid information.  For students who are not on track to graduate, the HSBP must identify available interventions and academic support, courses, or both, that are designed to enable those students to meet graduation requirements.  The HSBP must also be updated to reflect student results on statewide high school assessments and revised as necessary for changing interests, goals, and needs.
 
School districts are encouraged to involve parents and guardians in the process of developing and updating the HSBP, and the HSBP must be provided to the students' parents or guardians in their native language if that language is one of the two most frequently spoken non-English languages of students in the district.
 
In addition to statutory requirements, school districts may establish local HSBP requirements that serve the needs and interests of their students, but all determinations of whether a student has met the requirements for an HSBP remain at the local level.
 
Electronic Platform.  Legislation adopted in 2019 required school districts, beginning in the 2020-21 school year, to ensure that an electronic HSBP platform is available to all students who are obligated to have an HSBP.
 
The 2019 legislation directed the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, subject to specific legislative funding, to facilitate the creation of a list of available electronic platforms for the HSBP.  Platforms that are eligible to be included on the list must meet delineated requirements, including:  enabling students to create and revise their HSBP; granting parents, guardians, educators, and counselors appropriate access to students' HSBPs; and allowing for portability between platforms for students that transfer.
 
The Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction.
In addition to its constitutional charge of supervising all matters pertaining to public schools, the Superintendent of Public Instruction and its office has numerous and broad responsibilities prescribed in statute, including:

• making rules and regulations necessary for the administration of public education requirements;
• preparing courses of study and other materials and books for the discharge of education duties;
• fulfilling financial responsibilities, including distributing legislatively allocated funds to districts for the operation of the public school system, and awarding numerous state and federally funded grants; and
• satisfying numerous reporting and other duties assigned by the Legislature.

General Requirements.  New and revised requirements for HSBPs are established.  For example, the modified requirements direct school districts to:

• involve parents and legal guardians to the greatest extent feasible in the process of developing and updating the HSBP in accordance with effective language access program principles established in statute;
• provide the HSBP to the student and the students' parents or legal guardians in a language the student and parents or guardians understand and in accordance with the school district's language access policy and procedures;
• 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 in a manner that conforms with the school district's language access policy and procedures; and
• notify parents or legal guardians of students who have not met assessment standards or are behind in the completion of graduation requirements about opportunities for academic interventions, supports, and courses, preferably through a parent conference and at least annually, until the student is on track to graduate.

 
Requirements governing the minimum elements that must be included in an HSBP are modified.  For example, the HSBP element for academic plan for course taking must include:

• information on the potential impacts of their course selections on postsecondary opportunities;
• an identification of available career and technical education equivalency courses that can satisfy core subject area graduation requirements; and
• an identification, if applicable, of opportunities for partial credit accrual, including accrual of mastery-based credit, to eliminate barriers for on-time grade level progression and graduation.

 
Common Electronic Platform and Planning Tool.  The OSPI is directed to facilitate the transition to, and adoption of, a common online platform for the HSBP.  In meeting this directive, the OSPI must conduct a cost analysis and feasibility study to inform development or adoption of a statewide platform.  The analysis must include:

• an inventory of existing vendors who meet platform and general HSBP requirements;
• the need for statewide technical assistance and professional development to support the transition; and
• the costs associated with the development of a statewide platform.  

 
The OSPI must submit costs to the governor and the education policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature by September 2024.
 
In implementing duties for transitioning to a common online HSBP platform, the OSPI must seek input from the SBE, educators, school and district administrators, school counselors, families, students, higher education, and community partners who support students' career and college preparation.
 
The statewide platform must include additional elements and capabilities to ensure equity in HSBP implementation and engagement across the state.  The delineated elements are as follows:

• seamless integration between HSBP course planning capabilities and most commonly used student information data platforms across the state;
• college, career, and aptitude assessments that provide in-platform relevant recommendations to students;
• the ability for staff to make notes and develop support and recovery plans for students, if needed;
• accessibility options for students needing accommodations including, but not limited to, visual aids and voice dictation for students with limited literacy skills;
• the ability to print and download HSBPs in one document, without requiring students to access multiple screens;
• the capability to automatically pull from the school district's student information system enrolled courses and grades earned to allow for ease of access and portability; and
• the ability for school districts to customize or add features to align with local needs and local graduation requirements.

 
Subject to the availability of amounts appropriated for this specific purpose, the OSPI must develop or adopt a universal high school and beyond planning tool.  Within two years of adoption of a statewide tool, school districts must transition to the adopted universal platform.  The OSPI is also directed to develop and provide technical assistance for school districts transitioning to the statewide platform.