Background: Section 504 of the Federal Rehabilitation Act. Enacted by Congress in 1973, the relevant portion of the act provides: "No otherwise qualified handicapped individual...shall, solely by reason of his handicap be excluded from the participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving federal financial assistance..." section 504 applies to all recipients of federal financial assistance and to all programs or activities that receive or benefit from such assistance. Recipients of federal financial assistance from the U.S. Department of Education (ED) include public school districts, public institutions of higher education, and other state and local education agencies. ED enforces section 504 through an Office for Civil Rights (OCR).

Washington Inventory of Developing Skills (WaKIDS). State funding to support all-day kindergarten is being phased in, beginning in schools with the highest percentage of low-income students. As of the 2012-13 school year, 222 schools received funding to implement all-day kindergarten, serving approximately 18,000 students. Legislation enacted in 2011 requires that, if funding is provided, all schools offering state-funded all-day kindergarten must administer a kindergarten readiness assessment, known as WaKIDS, at the beginning of the school year. One of the components of WaKIDS is Family Connections, which involves a meeting between the teacher and the child's family to share information about the child's interests, needs, and family culture, as well as the classroom and school the child is attending. The meeting typically takes between 30 minutes and one hour.

Summary of Bill: Statewide Indicators of Educational System Health. The bill establishes six statewide indicators of educational system health: the percentage of students demonstrating the characteristics of entering kindergartners in all six areas identified by the WaKIDS assessment; the percentage of students meeting the standard on the fourth grade statewide reading assessment; the percentage of students meeting the standard on the eighth grade statewide mathematics assessment; the four-year cohort high school graduation rate; the college enrollment rate within two years of high school graduation; and the percentage of students enrolled in precollege or remedial courses in college.

Disaggregation of Statewide Indicator Data. The statewide indicators must be disaggregated into at least the following subgroups of students: Caucasian, Black, Hispanic, American Indian/Alaskan Native, Asian, Pacific Islander/Hawaiian Native, low income, transitional bilingual, migrant, special education, and students covered by Section 504 of the Federal Rehabilitation Act of 1973.

Goal-Setting. The State Board of Education (SBE) and the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) must establish a process for identifying realistic but challenging system-wide performance goals and measurements for each of the statewide indicators and each of the subgroups of students. The performance goal for each indicator must be set and adjusted on a biennial basis, with consideration given to: the magnitude of investments made in each budget toward fully funding the program of basic education; other funding enhancements for programs outside basic education; and the prior two-year gains or losses for that indicator.

Alignment of Strategic Planning and Reporting Progress. SBE, OSPI, and the Student Achievement Council must align their strategic planning and education reform efforts with the statewide indicators and performance goals established by the bill. The three agencies must jointly submit a report on the status of each statewide indicator and recommended performance goals and measurements by December 1 of each even-numbered year, except that the initial report establishing the baseline values and initial goals for statewide indicators must be delivered to the Legislature by December 1, 2013. If the state is not on target to meet the performance goals on any individual indicator, recommendations must be made as to whether adjustments within the program of basic education should be made to improve student achievement in that area. To the extent possible, performance goals for each statewide indicator must be compared with national data to determine if Washington student achievement in that indicator is within the top 10 percent nationally. If comparison data shows that Washington students are falling behind national peers on any indicator, the report must identify and recommended evidence-based reforms targeted at addressing the indicator in question.

Staff Summary of Public Testimony: PRO: This will act as a snapshot of overall educational system health, and allow Washington to compare their progress with other states' education systems. When so much is in flux with monitoring the health of our educational system, these are welcome benchmarks for measuring progress. This bill, in tandem with the McCleary report the Legislature must produce at the end of the session, could be a very effective way of measuring the areas we could improve K-12 education.

OTHER: We should consider the extended graduation rate rather than the four-year cohort high school graduation rate. Also, the college enrollment rate within two years of high school graduation is too narrow of a measure of what happens to children after high school; many become apprentices or join the military. Youth employment should be better incorporated as a performance measure. The bill should have more teeth, and there should be one person or entity put in charge of implementing the system. The committee should consider adding an indicator that measures how long students continue to stay in college.