Washington State

House of Representatives

Office of Program Research

BILL

ANALYSIS

Early Learning & Human Services Committee

HB 2739

This analysis was prepared by non-partisan legislative staff for the use of legislative members in their deliberations. This analysis is not a part of the legislation nor does it constitute a statement of legislative intent.

Brief Summary of Bill

Requires the Education Data Center to contract with a nonprofit organization to conduct a geographic analysis to identify areas where cumulative effects of family factors, such as health status and safety, correlate with academic and behavioral indicators of student success.

Background:

The Center on the Developing Child distinguishes between positive, tolerable, and toxic stress response. Toxic stress is defined as occurring when a child experiences frequent adversity without adequate support. Emerging evidence from multiple academic fields such as neuroscience, molecular biology, genomics, developmental psychology, epidemiology and sociology suggests that prolong exposure to toxic stress can disrupt brain development and increase risk for diseases and impair cognitive development.

Legislation enacted in 2007 established an Education Data Center (EDC) within the Office of Financial Management. Working jointly with the legislative evaluation and accountability program committee, the EDC conducts collaborative analyses of early learning, K-12, higher education programs and education issues across the P-20 system. The EDC is charged with annually providing to the K-12 data governance group a list of data elements and data quality improvements that are necessary to answer the research and policy questions identified by the education data center and those identified by legislative committees.

Summary of Bill:

House Bill 2739 requires the education data center to contract with a nonprofit organization that provides resources, connections, and support to the people who are most affected by health inequities, to conduct a geographic analysis. Using existing data, researchers are to identify areas where cumulative effects of family factors, such as health status and safety, correlate with academic and behavioral indicators of student success. In addition to including maps that illustrate community variation in family factors, the report must include the following: (1) the prevalence of family and community health, safety, and stability factors relevant to student success; (2) resilience factors that are statistically correlated with improved population outcomes even in populations with family, health, safety, and stability challenges; (3) correlation of the factors with community variation in academic, behavior, and graduation outcomes; and (4) implications for policy targeted at improving K-12 or postsecondary outcomes. The report is due to the appropriate committees of the legislature by January 31, 2015.