BILL REQ. #:  H-1719.1 

READ FIRST TIME 02/22/13.   

     AN ACT Relating to establishing policies to support academic acceleration for high school students; adding new sections to chapter 28A.320 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   (1) The legislature finds that progress is being made in making dual high school and college credit courses available for students:
     (a) Overall dual credit program enrollments increased by almost four percent between 2009 and 2012;
     (b) The number of dual credit programs offered by Washington high schools increased by almost fifteen percent between the 2009-10 school year and the 2011-12 school year; and
     (c) Dual credit program participation rates for low-income students increased more than fourteen percent between the 2009-10 school year and the 2011-12 school year.
     (2) However, the legislature further finds that more can be done to promote academic acceleration for all students and eliminate barriers, real or perceived, that may prevent students from enrolling in rigorous advanced courses, including dual credit courses.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   A new section is added to chapter 28A.320 RCW to read as follows:
     (1) Each school district board of directors is encouraged to adopt an academic acceleration policy for high school students as provided under this section.
     (2) Under an academic acceleration policy:
     (a) The district automatically enrolls any student who meets the state standard on the high school statewide student assessment in the next most rigorous level of advanced courses offered by the high school. Students who successfully complete such an advanced course are then enrolled in the next most rigorous level of advanced course, with the objective that students will eventually be automatically enrolled in courses that offer the opportunity to earn dual credit for high school and college.
     (b) The subject matter of the advanced courses in which the student is automatically enrolled depends on the content area or areas of the statewide student assessment where the student has met the state standard. Students who meet the state standard on both end-of-course mathematics assessments are considered to have met the state standard for high school mathematics. Students who meet the state standard in both reading and writing are eligible for enrollment in advanced courses in English, social studies, humanities, and other related subjects.
     (c) The district must notify students and parents or guardians regarding the academic acceleration policy and the advanced courses available to students.
     (d) The district must provide a parent or guardian with an opportunity to opt out of the academic acceleration policy and enroll a student in an alternative course.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 3   A new section is added to chapter 28A.320 RCW to read as follows:
     (1) Subject to funds appropriated specifically for this purpose, the academic acceleration incentive program is established as provided in this section. The intent of the legislature is that the funds awarded under the program be used to support teacher training, curriculum, technology, examination fees, and other costs associated with offering dual credit courses to high school students.
     (2) The office of the superintendent of public instruction shall allocate half of the funds appropriated for the purposes of this section on a competitive basis to provide one-time grants for high schools to expand the availability of dual credit courses. To be eligible for a grant, a school district must have adopted an academic acceleration policy as provided under section 2 of this act. In making grant awards, the office of the superintendent of public instruction must give priority to grants for high schools with a high proportion of low-income students and high schools seeking to develop new capacity for dual credit courses rather than proposing marginal expansion of current capacity.
     (3) The office of the superintendent of public instruction shall allocate half of the funds appropriated for the purposes of this section to school districts as an incentive award for each student who earned dual high school and college credit, as described under subsection (4) of this section, for courses offered by the district's high schools during the previous school year. School districts must distribute the award to the high schools that generated the funds. The award amount for low-income students eligible to participate in the federal free and reduced-price meals program who earn dual credits must be set at one hundred twenty-five percent of the base award for other students. A student who earns more than one dual credit in the same school year counts only once for the purposes of the incentive award.
     (4) For the purposes of this section, the following students are considered to have earned dual high school and college credit in a course offered by a high school:
     (a) Students who achieve a score of three or higher on an AP examination;
     (b) Students who achieve a score of four or higher on an examination of the international baccalaureate diploma programme;
     (c) Students who successfully complete a Cambridge advanced international certificate of education examination;
     (d) Students who successfully complete a course through the college in the high school program under RCW 28A.600.290 and are awarded credit by the partnering institution of higher education; and
     (e) Students who satisfy the dual enrollment and class performance requirements to earn college credit through a tech prep course.
     (5) If a high school provides access to online courses for students to earn dual high school and college credit at no cost to the student, such a course is considered to be offered by the high school. Students enrolled in the running start program under RCW 28A.600.300 do not generate an incentive award under this section.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 4   A new section is added to chapter 28A.300 RCW to read as follows:
     In addition to data on student enrollment in dual credit courses, the office of the superintendent of public instruction shall collect and post on the Washington state report card web site the rates at which students earn college credit through a dual credit course, using the following criteria:
     (1) Students who achieve a score of three or higher on an AP examination;
     (2) Students who achieve a score of four or higher on an examination of the international baccalaureate diploma programme;
     (3) Students who successfully complete a Cambridge advanced international certificate of education examination;
     (4) Students who successfully complete a course through the college in the high school program under RCW 28A.600.290 and are awarded credit by the partnering institution of higher education; and
     (5) Students who satisfy the dual enrollment and class performance requirements to earn college credit through a tech prep course; and
     (6) Students who successfully complete a course through the running start program under RCW 28A.600.300 and are awarded credit by the institution of higher education.