BILL REQ. #:  H-1506.1 

Read first time 02/11/2005.   Referred to Committee on Education.

     AN ACT Relating to educational assessments; amending RCW 28A.230.095, 28A.655.070, and 28A.305.220; and creating a new section.

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

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   The legislature finds that instruction in social studies, arts, health, and fitness is important to ensure a well-rounded and complete education. In particular, the civic mission of schools is strengthened and enhanced by comprehensive civics education and assessments. The legislature finds that effective and accountable democratic government depends upon an informed and engaged citizenry, and therefore, students should learn their rights and responsibilities as citizens, where those rights and responsibilities come from, and how to exercise them.

Sec. 2   RCW 28A.230.095 and 2004 c 19 s 203 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) By the end of the 2008-09 school year, school districts shall have in place in elementary schools, middle schools, and high schools assessments or other strategies to assure that students have an opportunity to learn the essential academic learning requirements in social studies, the arts, and health and fitness. Beginning with the 2008-09 school year, school districts shall annually submit an implementation verification report to the office of the superintendent of public instruction.
     (2) Beginning with the 2006-07 school year, school districts shall require each student in elementary, middle, and high school to complete a classroom-based assessment in civics that has been approved by the office of the superintendent of public instruction. The student's results on the civics assessment shall be included in the student's school records and, for a high school student, recorded on the student's transcript.

Sec. 3   RCW 28A.655.070 and 2004 c 19 s 204 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) The superintendent of public instruction shall develop essential academic learning requirements that identify the knowledge and skills all public school students need to know and be able to do based on the student learning goals in RCW 28A.150.210, develop student assessments, and implement the accountability recommendations and requests regarding assistance, rewards, and recognition of the academic achievement and accountability commission.
     (2) The superintendent of public instruction shall:
     (a) Periodically revise the essential academic learning requirements, as needed, based on the student learning goals in RCW 28A.150.210. Goals one and two shall be considered primary. To the maximum extent possible, the superintendent shall integrate goal four and the knowledge and skill areas in the other goals in the essential academic learning requirements; and
     (b) Review and prioritize the essential academic learning requirements and identify, with clear and concise descriptions, the grade level content expectations to be assessed on the Washington assessment of student learning and used for state or federal accountability purposes. The review, prioritization, and identification shall result in more focus and targeting with an emphasis on depth over breadth in the number of grade level content expectations assessed at each grade level. Grade level content expectations shall be articulated over the grades as a sequence of expectations and performances that are logical, build with increasing depth after foundational knowledge and skills are acquired, and reflect, where appropriate, the sequential nature of the discipline. The office of the superintendent of public instruction, within seven working days, shall post on its web site any grade level content expectations provided to an assessment vendor for use in constructing the Washington assessment of student learning.
     (3) In consultation with the academic achievement and accountability commission, the superintendent of public instruction shall maintain and continue to develop and revise a statewide academic assessment system in the content areas of reading, writing, mathematics, civics, and science for use in the elementary, middle, and high school years designed to determine if each student has mastered the essential academic learning requirements identified in subsection (1) of this section. The civics assessment shall be classroom-based and may be selected by school districts from a list of classroom-based assessments approved by the superintendent. School districts shall administer the assessments under guidelines adopted by the superintendent of public instruction. The academic assessment system shall include a variety of assessment methods, including criterion-referenced and performance-based measures.
     (4) If the superintendent proposes any modification to the essential academic learning requirements or the statewide assessments, then the superintendent shall, upon request, provide opportunities for the education committees of the house of representatives and the senate to review the assessments and proposed modifications to the essential academic learning requirements before the modifications are adopted.
     (5)(a) The assessment system shall be designed so that the results under the assessment system are used by educators as tools to evaluate instructional practices, and to initiate appropriate educational support for students who have not mastered the essential academic learning requirements at the appropriate periods in the student's educational development.
     (b) Assessments measuring the essential academic learning requirements in the content area of science shall be available for mandatory use in middle schools and high schools by the 2003-04 school year and for mandatory use in elementary schools by the 2004-05 school year unless the legislature takes action to delay or prevent implementation of the assessment.
     (6) By September 2007, the results for reading and mathematics shall be reported in a format that will allow parents and teachers to determine the academic gain a student has acquired in those content areas from one school year to the next.
     (7) To assist parents and teachers in their efforts to provide educational support to individual students, the superintendent of public instruction shall provide as much individual student performance information as possible within the constraints of the assessment system's item bank. The superintendent shall also provide to school districts:
     (a) Information on classroom-based and other assessments that may provide additional achievement information for individual students; and
     (b) A collection of diagnostic tools that educators may use to evaluate the academic status of individual students. The tools shall be designed to be inexpensive, easily administered, and quickly and easily scored, with results provided in a format that may be easily shared with parents and students.
     (8) To the maximum extent possible, the superintendent shall integrate knowledge and skill areas in development of the assessments.
     (9) Assessments for goals three and four of RCW 28A.150.210 shall be integrated in the essential academic learning requirements and assessments for goals one and two.
     (10) The superintendent shall develop assessments that are directly related to the essential academic learning requirements, and are not biased toward persons with different learning styles, racial or ethnic backgrounds, or on the basis of gender.
     (11) The superintendent shall consider methods to address the unique needs of special education students when developing the assessments under this section.
     (12) The superintendent shall consider methods to address the unique needs of highly capable students when developing the assessments under this section.
     (13) The superintendent shall post on the superintendent's web site lists of resources and model assessments in social studies, the arts, and health and fitness.

Sec. 4   RCW 28A.305.220 and 2004 c 19 s 108 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) The state board of education shall develop for use by all public school districts a standardized high school transcript. The state board of education shall establish clear definitions for the terms "credits" and "hours" so that school programs operating on the quarter, semester, or trimester system can be compared.
     (2) The standardized high school transcript shall include the following information:
     (a) The highest scale score and level achieved in each content area on the high school Washington assessment of student learning or other high school measures successfully completed by the student as provided by RCW 28A.655.061 and 28A.155.045;
     (b) All scholar designations as provided by RCW 28A.655.061;
     (c) A notation of whether the student has earned a certificate of individual achievement or a certificate of academic achievement by means of the Washington assessment of student learning or by an alternative assessment; and
     (d) The results of the student's high school civics assessment under RCW 28A.230.095 and 28A.655.070.
     (3) Transcripts are important documents to students who will apply for admission to postsecondary institutions of higher education. Transcripts are also important to students who will seek employment upon or prior to graduation from high school. It is recognized that student transcripts may be the only record available to employers in their decision-making processes regarding prospective employees. The superintendent of public instruction shall require school districts to inform annually all high school students that prospective employers may request to see transcripts and that the prospective employee's decision to release transcripts can be an important part of the process of applying for employment.