AN ACT Relating to the financial education public-private partnership; amending RCW 28A.300.450, 28A.300.460, and 28A.655.070; and adding a new section to chapter 28A.300 RCW.

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

Sec. 1.  RCW 28A.300.450 and 2011 c 262 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) A financial education public-private partnership is established, composed of the following members:

(a) Four members of the legislature, with one member from each caucus of the house of representatives appointed for a two-year term of service by the speaker of the house of representatives, and one member from each caucus of the senate appointed for a two-year term of service by the president of the senate;

(b) Four representatives from the private for-profit and nonprofit financial services sector, including at least one representative from the jumpstart coalition, to be appointed for a staggered two-year term of service by the governor;

(c) Four teachers to be appointed for a staggered two-year term of service by the superintendent of public instruction, with one each representing the elementary, middle, secondary, and postsecondary education sectors;

(d) A representative from the department of financial institutions to be appointed for a two-year term of service by the director;

(e) Two representatives from the office of the superintendent of public instruction, with one involved in curriculum development and one involved in teacher professional development, to be appointed for a staggered two-year term of service by the superintendent; and

(f) The state treasurer or the state treasurer's designee.

(2) The chair of the partnership shall be selected by the members of the partnership from among the legislative members.

(3) One-half of the members appointed under subsection (1)(b), (c), and (e) of this section shall be appointed for a one-year term beginning August 1, 2011, and a two-year term thereafter.

(4) To the extent funds are appropriated or are available for this purpose, the partnership may hire a staff person who shall reside in the office of the superintendent of public instruction for administrative purposes. Additional technical and logistical support may be provided by the office of the superintendent of public instruction, the department of financial institutions, the organizations composing the partnership, and other participants in the financial education public-private partnership.

(5) The initial members of the partnership shall be appointed by August 1, 2011.

(6) Legislative members of the partnership shall receive per diem and travel under RCW 44.04.120.

(7) Travel and other expenses of members of the partnership shall be provided by the agency, association, or organization that member represents. Teachers appointed as members by the superintendent of public instruction may be paid their travel expenses in accordance with RCW 43.03.050 and 43.03.060 from funds available in the Washington financial education public-private partnership account. If the attendance of a teacher member at an official meeting of the partnership results in a need for a school district to employ a substitute, payment for such a substitute may be made by the superintendent of public instruction from funds available in the Washington financial education public-private partnership account. A school district must release a teacher member to attend an official meeting of the partnership if the partnership pays the district for a substitute or pays the travel expenses of the teacher member.

(8) This section shall be implemented to the extent funds are available.

Sec. 2.  RCW 28A.300.460 and 2009 c 443 s 2 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) The task of the financial education public-private partnership is to seek out and determine the best methods of equipping students with the knowledge and skills they need, before they become self-supporting, in order for them to make critical decisions regarding their personal finances. The components of personal financial education shall include the achievement of skills and knowledge necessary to make informed judgments and effective decisions regarding earning, spending, and the management of money and credit.

(2) In carrying out its task, and to the extent funds are available, the partnership shall:

(a) Communicate to school districts the financial education standards adopted under RCW 28A.300.462, other important financial education skills and content knowledge, and strategies for expanding the provision and increasing the quality of financial education instruction;

(b) Review on an ongoing basis financial education curriculum that is available to school districts, including instructional materials and programs, online instructional materials and resources, and school-wide programs that include the important financial skills and content knowledge;

(c) Develop evaluation standards and a procedure for endorsing financial education curriculum that the partnership determines should be recommended for use in school districts;

(d) ((Identify assessments and outcome measures that schools and communities may use to determine whether students have met the financial education standards adopted under RCW 28A.300.462))Work with the office of the superintendent of public instruction to integrate financial education skills and content knowledge into the state essential academic learning requirements;

(e) Monitor and provide guidance for professional development for educators regarding financial education, including ways that teachers at different grade levels may integrate financial skills and content knowledge into mathematics, social studies, and other course content areas;

(f) Work with the office of the superintendent of public instruction and the professional educator standards board to create professional development ((that could lead to a certificate endorsement or other certification of competency)) in financial education;

(g) Develop academic guidelines and standards-based protocols for use by classroom volunteers who participate in delivering financial education to students in the public schools; and

(h) Provide an annual report beginning December 1, 2009, as provided in RCW 28A.300.464, to the governor, the superintendent of public instruction, and the committees of the legislature with oversight over K-12 education and higher education.

Sec. 3.  RCW 28A.655.070 and 2013 2nd sp.s. c 22 s 5 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 state board of education.

(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 statewide student assessment 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 statewide student assessment.

(3)(a) In consultation with the state board of education, 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, 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. School districts shall administer the assessments under guidelines adopted by the superintendent of public instruction. The academic assessment system may include a variety of assessment methods, including criterion-referenced and performance-based measures.

(b) Effective with the 2009 administration of the Washington assessment of student learning and continuing with the statewide student assessment, the superintendent shall redesign the assessment in the content areas of reading, mathematics, and science in all grades except high school by shortening test administration and reducing the number of short answer and extended response questions.

(c) By the 2014-15 school year, the superintendent of public instruction, in consultation with the state board of education, shall modify the statewide student assessment system to transition to assessments developed with a multistate consortium, as provided in this subsection:

(i) The assessments developed with a multistate consortium to assess student proficiency in English language arts and mathematics shall be administered beginning in the 2014-15 school year. The reading and writing assessments shall not be administered by the superintendent of public instruction or schools after the 2013-14 school year.

(ii) The high school assessments in English language arts and mathematics in (c)(i) of this subsection shall be used for the purposes of earning a certificate of academic achievement for high school graduation under the timeline established in RCW 28A.655.061 and for assessing student career and college readiness.

(iii) During the transition period specified in RCW 28A.655.061, the superintendent of public instruction shall use test items and other resources from the consortium assessment to develop and administer a tenth grade high school English language arts assessment, an end-of-course mathematics assessment to assess the standards common to algebra I and integrated mathematics I, and an end-of-course mathematics assessment to assess the standards common to geometry and integrated mathematics II.

(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) 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.

(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.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 4.  A new section is added to chapter 28A.300 RCW to read as follows:

(1)(a) After consulting with the financial education public-private partnership, the office of the superintendent of public instruction shall make available to all school districts a list of courses that align with the financial education standards integrated into the state essential academic learning requirements pursuant to RCW 28A.300.460(2)(d).

(b) The office of the superintendent of public instruction shall seek federal and private funds to support the school districts in providing access to the courses listed pursuant to (a) of this subsection, as well as related professional development opportunities for certificated staff.

(2) School districts shall provide all students in grades nine through twelve the opportunity to access the financial education standards, whether through a regularly scheduled class period; before or after school; during lunch periods; at library and study time; at home; via online learning opportunities; through career and technical education course equivalencies; or other opportunities. School districts shall publicize the availability of financial education opportunities to students and their families. School districts are encouraged to grant credit toward high school graduation to students who successfully complete financial education courses.

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