Brief Summary of Amended Bill

Requires the state assessments in English language arts and mathematics to be administered in the tenth grade beginning with the high school Class of 2020.
Directs the State Board of Education (SBE) to establish both the scores that a student must achieve on the tenth grade assessments to earn a Certificate of Academic Achievement (CAA) and graduate from high school; and the score to determine career and college readiness, which may be different scores.
Eliminates the Collection of Evidence as an alternative way for a student to meet the state standard and earn a CAA.
Adds two alternative ways for a student to meet the state standard and earn a CAA: successfully complete a dual credit course, and use a student's score on a school district administered assessment that is approved by the SBE.
Specifies minimum elements for the High School and Beyond Plan (HSBP) and requires the HSBP to be initiated in the seventh or eighth grade.

Background: Federal High School Assessment Requirements. Under federal law, states must assess student achievement on the English language arts (ELA), mathematics, and science state learning standards at least once in the high school grades.

Washington State High School Assessment Requirements. Since 2008, Washington's minimum high school graduation requirements have included a requirement that students must meet the state standard on the statewide assessments in reading and writing or English language arts, and mathematics to earn a Certificate of Academic Achievement (CAA). Students receiving special education who are not appropriately assessed by the statewide assessments may instead earn a Certificate of Individual Achievement (CIA) to graduate from high school. A student's individual education program team makes the determination of whether the state assessment is appropriate for a student receiving special education.

Meeting the state standard on the state science assessment was scheduled to become a graduation requirement for the graduating Class of 2015; however, the Legislature acted in 2015 to delay adding the science assessment as a graduation requirement. Current law requires the graduating Class of 2017 to meet the state standard on the state science assessment. The state science assessment is an end-of-course (EOC) biology assessment. The biology EOC assessment is based on Washington's 2009 science learning standards, also known as the essential academic learning requirements (EALRs). Washington adopted new science EALRs in 2013. A new comprehensive science assessment of the 2013 science learning standards will be administered for the first time in spring 2018.

Alternative State Assessments. The Ninth Circuit federal court found that when a state requires students to meet the state standard on a state assessment as a high school graduation requirement then the state must also provide alternative ways for students to demonstrate they have met the state standard if the student fails to meet the state standard on the state assessment. In Washington, high school students must take the state assessment at least once before accessing an alternative. School districts must provide retake opportunities of the state assessment and legislatively-approved alternative assessments for high school students to use in place of the statewide assessments to show they have met the state standard and earn the CAA. Alternative assessments include the following:

Collection of Evidence (COE)—a state evaluation of academic work samples prepared by the student with instructional support from a teacher;
Grade Point Average (GPA) comparison—the grades of a student in their 12th-grade year who has an overall GPA of 3.2 but did not meet the state standard on the state assessment are compared with the grades of students who took the same courses and met the state standard on the state assessment; and

College Admission/AP/IB Tests—students may use their English language arts and mathematics scores on the SAT; their English language arts, mathematics, and science scores on the ACT; scores on specified Advanced Placement (AP) exams; and scores on the International Baccalaureate (IB) exams.

Other States' High School Assessment Requirements. The Education Commission of the States reports that 15 states require students in the graduating Class of 2017 to pass a state assessment to graduate: Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, Virginia, and Washington.

Dual Credit Courses. The Dual Credit programs allow students to take college-level courses while still in high school. Students may become eligible for the awarding of college credit based on scores obtained in the year-end examinations and through taking college-level classes either in their high school or at colleges and universities.

High School and Beyond Plan (HSBP). Since 2009, the HSBP has been a high school graduation requirement. Starting in middle schools, students create a HSBP for their high school experience, including what they expect to do the year following graduation. Each school district determines the guidelines for the HSBP and whether the student has met this graduation requirement. If a student successfully completes career and technical education (CTE) courses needed for industry certification, college credit, or pre-apprenticeship, then the certificate must be part of the student's HSBP.

Twenty-four credits for High School Graduation. Beginning with the high school graduating class of 2019, school districts must provide students the opportunity to complete twenty-four credits for high school graduation, unless a district receives a waiver from the SBE to delay the implementation of twenty-four credits until the graduating class of 2020 or 2021.

Summary of Amended Bill: Washington State High School Assessment Requirements. Beginning with the high school Class of 2020, students must meet the state standard on the ELA and mathematics state assessment, which will be administered at the tenth grade. The SBE must establish the student scores for the high school assessments to be administered in the 10th-grade aligned to high school essential academic learning requirements in ELA and mathematics commonly taught through 10th-grade. For the graduating classes of 2018 and beyond, the scores established by the SBE shall be for the purposes of earning a CAA and graduation from high school and for the purpose of determining a 10th-grade student's expectation for achieving career and college readiness. The scores for the purposes of earning a CAA may be different from the scores used for the purpose of determining a student's career and college readiness.

The use of the state science assessment as a graduation requirement is delayed until the high school graduating Class of 2021. This applies retroactively to graduating Class of 2017. The assessment used as the graduation requirement beginning with the graduating Class of 2021 must assess the science essential academic learning requirements adopted by the Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI) in 2013. The Biology EOC assessment currently used for high school graduation remains the state assessment until a comprehensive science assessment is required.

Alternative State Assessments. The COE is eliminated as an alternative assessment. The following alternative ways to meet the state standard required for high school graduation are added:

complete a dual credit course in ELA or mathematics in which the student earns college credit; or
successful passage of a school district administered assessment approved by the SBE. The district administered assessment may include formative, interim, summative, or portfolio assessments. SBE must develop a process by which school districts may submit assessments for the SBE to review and approve for use as objective alternative assessments for graduation. This process must establish a means to determine whether a school district-administered assessment is comparable in rigor to the skills and knowledge that the student must demonstrate on the statewide student assessment and is objective in its determination of student achievement of the minimum high school graduation standard.

High School and Beyond Plan (HSBP). Beginning in either the seventh or eighth grade, each student must have a HSBP that includes a career interest and skills inventory; career and education goals; a four-year plan for course taking; and by 12th-grade a resume or activity log. The plan must be updated.

Required Course-Taking.

Ninth graders. When school districts start to implement twenty-four credits for high school graduation, any 9th-grade student who did not pass the 8th-grade assessment must update his or her HSBP to ensure that they take one or more credits of mathematics in grades nine, ten, and eleven. This may include CTE equivalencies.

Eleventh graders. Beginning in 2018-19 if a student has not earned a CAA before the 11th-grade, the HSBP must be updated to reflect the intervention, academic support, and courses designed to demonstrate high school proficiency that the school district will provide the student.