Background:

Each school district must annually report to parents and the community on the district and school improvement goals, student performance relative to the goals, and plans to achieve the goals, including curriculum and instruction, parental or guardian involvement, and resources available to parents and guardians to help students meet standards. Schools and school districts with fewer than ten students in a grade level are not required to report the progress toward meeting the goals, but must report plans to improve student performance.

Individual schools must publish annually, distribute to parents of enrolled students, and make available to the community, a school performance report including specified information related to the school improvement goals. The purpose of the report is to enable parents, educators, and school board members to determine whether students in the school are attaining mastery of student learning goals and other important facts about the school's performance in assisting students to learn. These annual performance reports must include the following:

Brief mission statement of the school and the district;
Enrollment statistics, including student demographics;
Summary of student scores on all mandated tests;
Concise annual budget report;
Student attendance, graduation, and dropout rates;
Information concerning the use and condition of the school building;
Brief description of the learning improvement plans for the school; and,
An invitation to all parents and citizens to participate in school activities.

Schools report using a model report form developed by the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI). School performance reports are accessible through the OSPI web site.

Summary of Bill:

Legislative Findings

The bill opens with a myriad of findings regarding the relationship between health and educational achievement:

Improving student health fosters educational achievement and educational achievement enables student health.
Students at risk from obesity, substance abuse, bullying, violence, and tobacco use are less likely to perform well academically and are less likely to graduate.
Rates of illness and premature death are greater for those with fewer years of education.
Students who drop out of high school are more likely to experience early pregnancy, cardiovascular illness, cancer, diabetes, asthma, and addictions.
Those who drop out are more likely to engage in criminal acts and need taxpayer-supported health and social services.
Health status and academic achievement vary significantly by income, gender, race, and ethnicity.

The findings include a statement of agreement with the conclusion found in the nonpartisan, non-profit Washington Health Foundation's 2008 Healthiest State Report Card that, as long as inequitable conditions such as these persist, Washington will not become the healthiest state in the nation.

Despite recent investments in medical services for children, the findings note, these investments have but limited potential to improve schools as health and social learning environments. Student health and social-emotional learning are too often regarded as tangential to academic achievement. Expressing a belief that coordination and visibility will promote the efficient and effective use of additional health resources for children toward the support of student learning, a reporting structure is put in place to disclose efforts to improve health and social-emotional learning in Washington schools

Reporting Requirements

The annual report required of each school district board of directors must include information regarding district-wide and school-level student health and social-emotional well-being.

Individual school annual performance reports must include information on efforts to coordinate health and social support services, curricula, and school building policies and practices to remove nonacademic barriers to student learning.

By June 30, 2011, the model report format shall be amended to include information regarding school implementation of health and social and emotional learning requirements and goals, including at least:

Physical education requirements;
School-based health educational assessments;
Nutrition policies and practices;
School environmental health standards;
Availability of health services by school nurses, clinics, or other means;
Availability of counseling services;
Transportation policies that promote safe walking or biking to school;
Public use of school facilities for after hours physical activities; and
Membership contact information for any school health committee created.