BILL REQ. #:  S-4124.2 

Read first time 01/17/08.   Referred to Committee on Early Learning & K-12 Education.

     AN ACT Relating to culminating projects in the area of environmental education; adding a new section to chapter 28A.310 RCW; adding a new section to chapter 28A.300 RCW; and creating a new section.

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

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   As a graduation requirement, the culminating project is intended to provide students with a unique opportunity to evidence the totality of their educational experience through an individualized learning experience of their choosing. While the culminating project is intended to show that the student met the essential academic learning standards, it also provides a venue for the student to explore areas of personal interest, develop leadership skills, and understand how the learning standards connect with future career opportunities.
     The legislature supports the integration of natural science, wildlife, and environmental education programs into the common school curriculum as a way to better engage students and to set the stage for life-long learning. It is the intent of the legislature to strengthen that integration by creating a program that allows students to satisfy the culminating project through participation in high-quality, hands-on environmental or ecological projects that link state academic standards with real-world learning experiences. These projects will begin preparing students to be the next generation of leaders with the skills, knowledge, and dispositions to effectively and creatively address the challenges and opportunities of the twenty-first century.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   A new section is added to chapter 28A.310 RCW to read as follows:
     (1) The sustainable environment culminating project grant program is created to establish an organized regional approach to providing environmentally related culminating projects for students that connect school academics with natural resource career possibilities. Grant funds provided for the purpose of supporting environmentally related culminating projects shall be disbursed through a competitive grant process administered through the educational service districts that receive an appropriation in the budget.
     (2) Educational service districts receiving funding shall award the grant funds to a nonprofit organization that has proven experience with delivering applied learning opportunities to students in the area of environmental education, including but not limited to areas of interest such as ocean policy, biodiversity, Puget Sound clean-up, environmental restoration, and climate change. Educational service districts may pool grant funds and award a single grant to a single nonprofit organization that will work with individual school districts.
     (3) The nonprofit grant recipients shall be required to provide assistance to school districts through instructional resources and support, professional development and equipment sharing, and by providing sample curricula and project ideas. The nonprofit organizations shall assist school districts in developing culminating projects for students that:
     (a) Allow students to demonstrate their knowledge and skills in relationship to the essential academic learning standards and to do so through integration of reading, writing, communication, mathematics, science, social studies, the arts, and health/fitness and in a real-world, hands-on context;
     (b) Provide a forum, both virtual and in-person, that allows students to be involved with and interact with scientists, policymakers, and local community leaders during the development and completion of the culminating project. A community mentoring component shall be included in the program to provide support to students;
     (c) Promote leadership skills;
     (d) Are designed to improve student learning and promote a sense of personal responsibility through hands-on, technology-assisted science and community research in the field. The project shall require the student to use scientific protocols to share data and compare findings with others and learn firsthand the impacts that people have on the environment; and
     (e) Help students learn about responsible stewardship and careers in sustainable design.
     (4) By December 2009, the nonprofit organizations receiving grants under this section shall report to the educational service districts and the legislature the number of students served by the program, the types and number of culminating projects completed, and the feedback on the program from students, school administrators, and teachers.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 3   A new section is added to chapter 28A.300 RCW to read as follows:
     Subject to the availability of funds, the office of the superintendent of public instruction shall work with the nonprofit grant recipients as provided in section 2 of this act to implement a statewide online project database in which students can find project opportunities through connections with community-based and agency resources and where students can post their own projects and continue or build on the work of other student projects. This database shall be housed and managed by the office of the superintendent of public instruction.