FINAL BILL REPORT

SSB 6521

C 353 L 20

Synopsis as Enacted

Brief Description: Creating an innovative learning pilot program.

Sponsors: Senate Committee on Early Learning & K-12 Education (originally sponsored by Senators Wellman, Hunt, Mullet and Wilson, C.).

Senate Committee on Early Learning & K-12 Education

Senate Committee on Ways & Means

House Committee on Education

House Committee on Appropriations

Background: State Board of Education Waivers. The State Board of Education (SBE) has the authority to grant waivers from basic education program requirements, including credit-based high school graduation requirements. As of January 2019, 13 schools within 12 school districts applied for a waiver from credit-based high school graduation requirements.

Mastery-Based Learning Work Group. The Legislature passed E2SHB 1599 in 2019, directing SBE to convene and staff a mastery-based learning work group to inform the Governor, Legislature, and public about barriers to mastery-based learning. Mastery-based learning is a program model whereby:

• students advance upon demonstrated mastery of content;

• competencies include explicit, measurable, transferable learning objectives that empower students;

• assessments are meaningful and a positive learning experience for students;

• students receive rapid, differentiated support based on their individual learning needs; and

• learning outcomes emphasize competencies that include application and creation of knowledge and the development of important skills and dispositions.

The work group is directed to examine opportunities to increase student access to relevant and robust mastery-based academic pathways aligned to personal career goals and postsecondary education. The work group must consider:

• improvements in the high school and beyond plan as an essential tool for mastery-based learning;

• development of mastery-based pathways to earning a high school diploma;

• the results of competency-based pathways previously approved by the SBE; and

• the expansion of mastery-based credits to meet graduation requirements.

The work group submitted an interim report to the Governor and Legislature in December 2019. A final report detailing all findings and recommendations is due to the same recipients by December 1, 2020.

Summary: By July 1, 2020, the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) must create and administer an innovative learning pilot program to authorize full-time enrollment funding for students participating in mastery-based learning programs. The pilot program must be in effect through the 2022-23 school year.

To participate in the pilot program, school districts must have a waiver from the credit unit graduation requirements for the 2019-20 school year, granted by the State Board of Education. A district must also submit the following information to OSPI:

• affirmation that the district wishes to participate in the pilot program and the specific schools with a waiver within the district that would participate;

• a description of the mastery-based learning program that the school district intends to implement and the number of students expected to participate; and

• an explanation of the goals of the mastery-based learning program and how the school district intends to measure and assess attainment of the goals.

OSPI may adopt rules to implement the pilot program, including:

• defining full-time enrollment standards for students based on regular participation in a mastery-based learning program rather than hours of seat time; and

• permitting participating school districts to report full-time equivalent students in an approved mastery-based program for general apportionment funding.

For purposes of the pilot program, "mastery-based learning program" is an educational program where:

• students advance upon demonstrated mastery of content;

• competencies include explicit, measurable, transferable learning objectives that empower students;

• assessments are meaningful and a positive learning experience for students;

• students receive rapid, differentiated support based on their individual learning needs; and

• learning outcomes emphasize competencies that include application and creation of knowledge along with the development of important skills and dispositions.

By December 1, 2022, OSPI, in collaboration with SBE, must report to the Legislature regarding the efficiency, cost, and impacts of the funding model or models used under the pilot program.

Votes on Final Passage: