AN ACT Relating to personal development and self-esteem; adding new sections to Title 28A RCW; making an appropriation; and providing an expiration date.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. (1) The legislature finds and declares the following:

(a) The onset of adolescence signals the beginning of several years of significant emotional and physical changes for young people, often compounded by both positive and negative peer pressure;

(b) The effort and support of family, friends, schools, and others to help children develop the following skills prior to adolescence:

(i) A strong sense of one's personal capabilities;

(ii) A clear sense of one's personal significance in their family and the community;

(iii) A belief in one's power to influence what goes on around them and determine whether uncontrolled circumstances will be a positive or negative influence;

(iv) Good intrapersonal skills and self-control;

(v) The ability to work with others, including initiating and participating in the exchange of ideas and perspectives;

(vi) Strong situational skills or the ability to consider the limits and consequences of actions in given situations and environments; and

(vii) The ability to exercise sound judgment, including establishing self-direction, assuming responsibility for self- decision-making, and interpreting constructively personal effort which does not yield desired outcomes;

!ixcan reduce during adolescence and beyond the incidents of such generally dysfunctional social behavior as: Failing to realize personal and academic potential; dropping out of school; becoming a substance abuser; involvement with pregnancy; and committing acts of vandalism or more serious offenses of the law;

(c) Research and practice are showing increasingly that much individual behavior is motivated by positive performance, accomplishments, and deeds which enhance an individual's self-confidence and self-image. Low self-confidence is an attitudinal impediment to students achieving their full academic potential and performing up to personal capabilities and expectations. Increased self-confidence tends to enable students to become and feel more confident in their abilities, more creative, and more productive;

(d) A learning environment which emphasizes student effort, involvement, and responsibility will contribute to greater student success academically, personally, and socially, and enhance the level of students' self-worth and esteem;

(e) It is a legitimate state interest to initiate and support educational research. Further, it is within the prerogative of the superintendent of public instruction, under the provisions of Article IX, sections 1 and 2, and Article III, section 22 of the state Constitution to initiate or conduct by legislative mandate educational research subject to appropriate legislative approval or appropriation, or both.

The conduct of educational research by the superintendent of public instruction is appropriate to the office of the superintendent of public instruction fulfilling its role as the clearinghouse of educational information for the state.

(2) It is the intent of the legislature to establish an educational research project for the purpose of developing and field-testing a model learning environment to enhance students' personal development and school performance.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. (1) The superintendent of public instruction shall establish a pilot program for the purpose of developing and field testing over an extended period of time a model learning environment to enhance students' personal development and school performance. In developing the model learning environment pilot project the superintendent shall be guided by the following:

Every student should be provided at each grade level the opportunity to learn to his or her maximum potential. An important factor influencing the likelihood of students learning to their maximum potential is the learning environment. Every student is deserving of a learning environment which is relationship-centered and promotes mutual respect between the learner and instructors. Every student is deserving of a learning environment which emphasizes academic and personal growth based on student effort and hard work, student self- exploration and risk-taking, and student experience and accomplishment.

(2) The model learning environment pilot project shall include, but not be limited to, the following elements and characteristics:

(a) Recognition that each student is a unique human being, with particular needs, abilities, and limitations, to be encouraged and assisted to learn, grow, and develop in his or her own manner to become a contributing and responsible member of society;

(b) Stressing cooperation rather than competition in assisting students to achieve gains in personal growth and academic performance;

(c) Providing a range of alternatives in instructional settings and formats to adequately and appropriately respond to the different ways research has shown that individual students learn, including learning teams where the students take the lead under the general supervision of the instructor to set individual and team goals and work cooperatively to achieve both;

(d) Offering students the opportunity to become adults who have developed senses and skills of:

(i) Responsibility -- one's personal and social accountability;

(ii) Respect -- the esteem of both self and others;

(iii) Resourcefulness -- pursuing the creative use of one's innate talents and skills and to strive for successful relationships with family, coworkers, and society;

(iv) Responsiveness -- having concern for and cooperation with others; and

(v) Skills under section 1 (1)(b) of this act;

(e) Assuring that all students continually achieve academic proficiency commensurate with their unique capabilities in the essential areas of skill and knowledge, including but not limited to: Reading, writing, speaking, observing, and listening; mathematics; and performing intellectual functions such as problem solving, decision-making, goal setting, selecting, planning, predicting, experimenting, ordering, evaluating, critical thinking, and independent judgment;

(f) Providing students appropriate and meaningful opportunities to develop skills, knowledge, awareness, and appreciations in a wide variety of other aspects of the curriculum, such as arts and humanities; foreign languages, with particular reference to Pacific Rim nations; physical, natural, and social sciences; physical, mental, and emotional health; consumer and international economics; career education; multicultural education, with particular reference to Pacific Rim nations; home management; parenting; and participatory government;

(g) Helping students to develop an awareness of self and their relationship within the narrow and broad world in which they live, (local: city and county; state: regional and general; national: regional and general; global: regional, particularly the Pacific Rim, and general), and an understanding of the relationships between Washington state and other countries;

(h) Emphasizing the concept that each student can master the fundamental skill of learning how to learn and that learning does not end upon graduation from high school or college.

As the state continues to move forward into an information and service-dominated age, students' personal orientation to life-long learning is emerging as a new basic skill the student will need to more successfully adapt to the rapidly evolving technological age;

(i) Involving parents in a broad range of activities, recognizing the vital role parental attitudes and values have in children's education, and recognizing that maintenance of parental responsibility toward their children's education is important and cannot be replaced by teachers;

(j) Providing students with community service opportunities as part of the curricular program; and

(k) Maintaining by means which cause no physical or mental harm to anyone an orderly and efficient school environment which encourages positive attitudes among students and teachers.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. In addition to the provisions of section 2 of this act, the model learning environment pilot project shall incorporate the following requirements:

(1) A classroom student-to-adult ratio that is the equivalent to the other regular classes in the district. For the purposes of the pilot project established under section 2 of this act, "adult" shall mean a certificated instructional staff person whose primary responsibility is the daily instruction of students or a classified or certificated teacher's aide or instructional assistant;

(2) Grades kindergarten through nine shall be included as part of the pilot project, subject to the provisions of section 6 (2) of this act, and grades ten through twelve may be included;

(3) An in-service component for the school and district staff involved with the pilot project; and

(4) For the purposes of the pilot project, contact hours shall be considered to mean the time students are engaged in educational activities rather than the time the adult in the classroom is directly involved with the students.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. In developing the model learning environment pilot project the superintendent of public instruction shall establish a monitoring program that includes assessment of the pilot project using, but not limited to, standardized test scores; measurements of student self-esteem; measurements of student critical thinking ability; and surveys of students, teachers, administrators, other school and district personnel, and parents regarding their attitudes and feelings about the project.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 5. (1) The superintendent of public instruction shall establish by June 1, 1988, a working committee to develop the design of the model learning environment under sections 1 through 4 of this act. The working committee shall follow the same procedures as those established by the superintendent of public instruction for the implementation of RCW 28A.03.425.

(2) The superintendent of public instruction, not later than September 1, 1988, shall issue a request for a proposal to school districts to field test the model learning environment. The superintendent of public instruction shall select on a grant application basis not later than January 31, 1989, one school district to conduct the field test of the model learning environment.

(3) The superintendent of public instruction, the working committee established under subsection (1) of this section, and the school district selected pursuant to subsection (2) of this section shall complete the design of the model learning environment not later than June 1, 1989.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 6. (1) Implementation of the model learning environment pilot project shall begin with the 1989-90 school year. The project shall terminate at the end of the 1998-99 school year.

(2) The pilot project shall involve students in grades kindergarten through nine: PROVIDED, That the students who shall be involved shall be limited to those students in the selected district who are enrolled in kindergarten upon commencement of the pilot project and their progress from kindergarten through grade nine shall be the focus of the research project.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 7. (1) The superintendent of public instruction, where appropriate, and the state board of education, where appropriate, are authorized to grant waivers to the pilot project district from the provisions of statutes or administrative rules relating to: Teacher contact hour requirements; program hour offerings; the commingling of funds appropriated by the legislature on a categorical or grant basis, or both, for such programs including, but not limited to, highly capable students, transitional bilingual instruction, learning assistance, dropout prevention, and substance abuse prevention; and other administrative rules which in the opinion of the superintendent of public instruction or the opinion of the state board of education may need to be waived in order to implement the pilot project.

(2) State statutes or rules dealing with public health, safety, and civil rights, including accessibility by the handicapped, shall not be waived.

(3) The superintendent of public instruction and the state board of education shall adopt rules as necessary under chapter 34.04 RCW to carry out the purposes of sections 1 through 7 of this act.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 8. (1) The superintendent of public instruction may accept, receive, and administer, from public or private sources, such gifts, grants, donations, or bequests as may be expressly given to support the model learning environment pilot project established under section 2 of this act.

(2) There is hereby created in the custody of the state treasurer a revolving fund, to be known as the model learning environment revolving fund. The superintendent of public instruction shall deposit in the fund all moneys received, pursuant to subsection (1) of this section, for the purposes of sections 1 through 10 of this act. Money in the fund may be spent only for the purposes of sections 1 through 10 of this act. Disbursements from the fund shall be on authorization of the superintendent of public instruction or the superintendent's designee. The fund is subject to the allotment procedure provided under chapter 43.88 RCW, but no appropriation is required for disbursements.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 9. Nothing in sections 1 through 10 of this act shall prevent the superintendent of public instruction and the pilot project district from coordinating with the schools for the twenty-first century program under RCW 28A.100.030 through 28A.100.068 or the work of the temporary committee on the assessment and accountability of educational outcomes under RCW 28A.100.010 through 28A.100.026.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 10. (1) The superintendent of public instruction shall submit a biennial report to the legislature on the model learning environment pilot project. The first report shall be submitted not later than December 31, 1989.

(2) The superintendent of public instruction shall submit a final report on the model learning environment pilot project not later than December 31, 2000.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 11. Sections 1 through 10 of this act are each added to Title 28A RCW.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 12. Sections 1 through 10 of this act shall expire January 1, 2000.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 13. The sum of forty-nine thousand five hundred dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary, is appropriated from the general fund for the biennium ending June 30, 1989, to the superintendent of public instruction to carry out the purposes of sections 1 through 7 of this act.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 14. If any provision of this act or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the remainder of the act or the application of the provision to other persons or circumstances is not affected.