SENATE BILL REPORT

                                   SHB 1811

             AS REPORTED BY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION, APRIL 5, 1991

Brief Description:  Affecting student motivation programs.

SPONSORS:House Committee on Education (originally sponsored by Representatives Valle, Neher, Cole, R. Johnson, Ebersole, Jones, Orr, Sheldon, Rasmussen, Franklin, Brumsickle, Hine and O'Brien; by request of Superintendent of Public Instruction).

HOUSE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION

SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION

Majority Report:  Do pass as amended.

      Signed by Senators Bailey, Chairman; Erwin, Vice Chairman; Oke, Pelz, Rinehart, and Talmadge.

Staff:  Susan Mosborg (786‑7439)

Hearing Dates:April 4, 1991; April 5, 1991

BACKGROUND:

Under current law, school districts are required annually to report dropout statistics to the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI).  They must report the number of students in grades 9 through 12 who leave school during the year, by high school program, grade, ethnicity and reason for leaving school.  Some school districts have begun using the proposed student tracking definitions for their own analytic purposes.  These allow districts to account for the progress of all students, not just dropouts.

SUMMARY:

In addition to the dropout data they currently report, school districts annually must report to OSPI, for each of their high school programs:  (1) number of students eligible for graduation in fewer than four years; (2) number who graduate in four years; (3) number who remain in school for more than four years but eventually graduate; (4) number who remain in school for more than four years but do not graduate; (5) number who transfer to other schools; (6) number who enter from other schools; (7) number in the ninth through twelfth grade who drop out of school over a four-year period; and (8) number whose status is unknown.

School districts must report the dropout rates for students in each of grades 9 through 12 by ethnicity, gender, and socioeconomic status.

Appropriation:  none

Revenue:  none

Fiscal Note:  available

SUMMARY OF PROPOSED SENATE AMENDMENTS:

Disability status is added to the categories for which the number of dropouts in each of grades 9 through 12 must be reported.

The reporting requirements added by the act shall expire June 1, 1994.

TESTIMONY FOR:

The 1989 budget provided funds for a dropout tracking project and asked participants to submit recommendations for improved student tracking.  These are the recommendations of the pilot projects.

An amendment is suggested to add disabilities to the list of categories by which dropout rates are reported.  Persons with disabilities have the highest dropout rate of any group.  This is reportedly due to lack of training and education.

TESTIMONY AGAINST:  None

TESTIFIED:  PRO:  Representative Georgette Valle, sponsor; Toby Olson, Governor's Committee on Disability Issues and Employment; Marcia Costello, Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction; Dwayne Slate, Washington State School Directors' Association