READ FIRST TIME 02/22/13.   

     AN ACT Relating to initiatives to improve and expand access to computer science education; amending RCW 28A.230.097; 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:
     (a) Through such initiatives as grants for high-demand career and technical education programs and participation in the Microsoft IT academy, the state has previously supported K-12 computer science education;
     (b) However, even though there were nearly sixty-five thousand student enrollments in high school computer science courses in the 2011-12 school year, more than half of those enrollments were in beginning or exploratory courses. Fewer than twelve hundred students enrolled in AP computer science courses;
     (c) National studies of K-12 computer science education indicate that, in part because computer science is not treated as an academic subject, students may not perceive advanced computer science as relevant to their future academic or career success;
     (d) Public institutions of higher education have expanded capacity to grant certificates and degrees in computer science and related fields in response to high employer demand and high student demand. Additional expansion and improvement will be dependent on new resources, updated equipment, and the availability of expert faculty;
     (e) Information technology job vacancies exist at all levels of training and education and across all industries that are critical to Washington's economy; and
     (f) Strategies are needed to support additional opportunities for Washington students to have careers in the innovative, technology-based or technology-enhanced industries located in our state.
     (2) Therefore the legislature intends to take additional steps to improve and expand access to computer science education, particularly in advanced courses that could prepare students for careers in the field.

Sec. 2   RCW 28A.230.097 and 2008 c 170 s 202 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) Each high school or school district board of directors shall adopt course equivalencies for career and technical high school courses offered to students in high schools and skill centers. A career and technical course equivalency may be for whole or partial credit. Each school district board of directors shall develop a course equivalency approval procedure. Boards of directors must approve AP computer science courses as equivalent to high school mathematics or science, and must denote on a student's transcript that AP computer science qualifies as a math-based quantitative course for students who take the course in their senior year. In order for a board to approve AP computer science as equivalent to high school mathematics, the student must be concurrently enrolled in or have successfully completed algebra II.
     (2) Career and technical courses determined to be equivalent to academic core courses, in full or in part, by the high school or school district shall be accepted as meeting core requirements, including graduation requirements, if the courses are recorded on the student's transcript using the equivalent academic high school department designation and title. Full or partial credit shall be recorded as appropriate. The high school or school district shall also issue and keep record of course completion certificates that demonstrate that the career and technical courses were successfully completed as needed for industry certification, college credit, or preapprenticeship, as applicable. The certificate shall be either part of the student's high school and beyond plan or the student's culminating project, as determined by the student. The office of the superintendent of public instruction shall develop and make available electronic samples of certificates of course completion.