Background: There are a number of different programs that provide high school students the opportunity to earn both high school and college credit. For example:

Advanced Placement (AP) courses are recognized by the College Board as having a college-level curricula. Most colleges and universities award students college credit for achieving a certain score on the AP course exam.
International Baccalaureate (IB) is a series of academically rigorous courses, activities, and examinations. Students may take individual courses, or attempt to complete an IB diploma based on the full program. Like AP, colleges and universities award credit based on exam scores.
The Cambridge Program is similar to IB in offering an internationally recognized rigorous set of courses and examinations.
College in the High School is a program in which a high school and a college or university enter a contract to have a course that is taught by a high school teacher generate college credit. Whether the student or the high school pays the tuition for the course depends on the contract.
Tech Prep offers students the opportunity to apply to a community or technical college to have high school career and technical education (CTE) courses recognized for college credit.
Running Start is a program where high school students may enroll in a participating public institution of higher education in Washington and earn both high school and college credit. For the most part, students attend class on the college campus. State funding is transferred from the high school to the college in lieu of tuition.

The Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) posts information about dual credit program enrollment by school district and high school on the School Report Card website. The information does not indicate pass rates on program examinations.

The statewide assessment system measures whether a student meets the state learning standard in a particular subject area. High school students take state assessments in reading, writing, mathematics, and science. The state standard for mathematics is measured using an end-of-course test in algebra I and geometry. The standard for science is measured using an end-of-course test in biology. The reading and writing assessments are administered in grade ten.

Summary of Bill (Recommended Amendments): Academic Acceleration Policy. Each school district is encouraged to adopt an academic acceleration policy that automatically enrolls any student meeting the state standard on the high school statewide assessments into the next most rigorous level of advanced courses offered by the student’s high school. Upon completion of that advanced course, students must then enroll in the next most rigorous level of advanced course, with the objective that students will eventually enroll in dual credit courses. The district must notify students and their parents or guardians of the academic acceleration policy, and provide the parents or guardians the opportunity to opt out of the program on behalf of the student.

Determination of Advanced Course Track. Students who meet the state standard on the high school statewide assessment test related to mathematics may be enrolled in advanced courses in mathematics. Students who meet the state standard on the high school statewide reading and writing assessments may be enrolled in advanced courses in English, social studies, humanities, and other related subjects.

Academic Acceleration Incentive Program (Program). The Program is established, subject to the appropriation of funding. School districts must adopt an academic acceleration policy in order to receive Program awards, which may be used to support teacher training, curriculum, technology, examination fees, and other costs associated with offering dual credit courses to high school students. OSPI will direct half of the appropriated funding for the purpose of creating a competitive, one-time grant for high schools to expand dual credit course availability. OSPI must give priority to grant applications from high schools with a high proportion of low-income students and to high schools seeking to develop new capacity for dual credit courses rather than proposing marginal expansions of existing capacity. OSPI will allocate the second half of appropriated funding to an incentive award given to high schools for each student who earned dual high school and college credit at the school in a given school year. The award amount for low-income students eligible to participate in the federal Free and Reduced-Price Meals program who earn dual credit must be set at 125 percent of the base award for other students. Students enrolled in Running Start do not count for the purpose of calculating a school’s incentive award. If specific funding for the Program is not provided in the 2013 budget, the Program is null and void.

Collection of Data on Dual Credit Courses. OSPI must post on the Washington State Report Card website the rates at which high school students earn college credit through dual credit courses. Data on the dual-credit earning students in grant-recipient schools must be collected and reported in a disaggregated format by at least the following subgroups of students: White, 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. By January 1 of each year, OSPI must report to the education and fiscal policy committees of the Legislature information about the demographics of students earning dual credits in schools who received Program grants during the prior school year.

EFFECT OF CHANGES MADE BY EARLY LEARNING & K-12 EDUCATION COMMITTEE (Recommended Amendments): School districts must adopt an academic acceleration policy by September 1, 2013. Students who meet a minimum threshold score on the PSAT must to be enrolled in the academic acceleration program. Students are allowed to enroll in advanced mathematics and science courses by meeting a minimum score threshold on the PSAT mathematics section, or to enroll in advanced English, social studies, humanities, and other related subjects by meeting a minimum score threshold on the writing skills and critical reading skills sections of the PSAT. OSPI must direct half of the appropriated funding for the Program to schools in the bottom 25 percent of enrollment in dual credit classes for the purpose of encouraging higher enrollment, and direct the second half of the appropriated funding to schools that finish in the top 10 percent of growth in student enrollment in dual credit programs. CTE courses that result in a student receiving dual credit and Running Start programs resulting in dual credit are added to the list of courses considered dual credit for the purposes of the Program. A null and void clause that applies to the Program is removed.

Staff Summary of Public Testimony on Second Substitute House Bill (Early Learning & K-12 Education): PRO: Academic acceleration is a powerful concept, but the Senate companion to this bill is much stronger. It is critical that this policy be mandatory for districts to adopt. This bill will help minority students access higher-level classes. Districts can already adopt an academic acceleration policy if they want to, so making the policy optional defeats the purpose of the bill. We had conversations about this policy for decades, and now this program is shown to be effective at closing the opportunity gap. The Washington State School Directors Association supports the bill as written. The Federal Way program is a success, but the Tacoma School District supports the bill as written, with permissive language, because Tacoma should have flexibility to apply the policy.

Staff Summary of Public Testimony as Amended by Early Learning & K-12 Education (Ways & Means): PRO: The bill was written based on the work of the Federal Way School District over the last three years. The cost of the bill is more than returned through the benefit of engaging students of color and students in poverty in higher academic achievement. Academic acceleration means any student who qualifies is automatically enrolled in the next most rigorous courses. These students continue to receive academic and social supports to ensure success. We have seen incredible benefits. We are designated as an honor-roll district, meaning we experienced more than a 6 percent increase in those taking AP exams. We can either invest in preventative measures that increase the rigor of courses for each and every student, or we can pay on the back end when students feel disengaged and discouraged, and subsequently dropout.