AN ACT Relating to modifying certain common school provisions; amending RCW 28A.175.025 and 28A.300.310; and adding a new section to chapter 28A.320 RCW.

Subject to the availability of funds appropriated for this purpose, the office of the superintendent of public instruction shall create a grant program and award grants to local partnerships of schools, families, and communities to begin the phase in of a statewide comprehensive dropout prevention, intervention, and retrieval system. This program shall be known as the building bridges program.

(1) For purposes of RCW 28A.175.025 through 28A.175.075, a "building bridges program" means a local partnership of schools, families, and communities that provides ((all))one or more of the following programs or activities:

(a) A system that identifies individual students at risk of dropping out from middle through high school based on local predictive data, including state assessment data starting in the fourth grade, and provides timely interventions for such students and for dropouts, including a plan for educational success as already required by the student learning plan as defined under RCW 28A.655.061. Students identified shall include foster care youth, youth involved in the juvenile justice system, and students receiving special education services under chapter 28A.155 RCW;

(c) Staff responsible for coordination of community partners that provide a seamless continuum of academic and nonacademic support in schools and communities;

(e) Alternative educational programming, including, but not limited to, career and technical education exploratory and preparatory programs and online learning opportunities.

(2) One of the grants awarded under this section shall be for a two-year demonstration project focusing on providing fifth through twelfth grade students with a program that utilizes technology and is integrated with state standards, basic academics, cross-cultural exposures, and age-appropriate preemployment training. The project shall:

(c) Collect and report data on participant characteristics and outcomes of the project, including the characteristics and outcomes specified under RCW 28A.175.035(1)(e); and

(1) The superintendent of public instruction ((shall identify a collection of reading passages and assessment procedures that can be used to measure second grade))recognizes the importance of oral reading accuracy ((and)), fluency ((skills)), and comprehension. The purpose of the second grade reading assessment is to provide information to parents, teachers, and school administrators on the level of acquisition of oral reading accuracy, comprehension, and fluency skills of each student at the beginning of second grade. The passages used for the assessment ((procedures and each of the reading passages in the collection)) must meet the following criteria and be administered according to the publishers' guidelines:

(c) Have been approved by ((a panel of)) nationally recognized professionals in the area of beginning reading, whose work has been published in peer-reviewed education research journals, and professionals in the area of measurement and assessment; and

(d) Assess student skills in recognition of letter sounds, phonemic awareness, word recognition, and reading connected text. Text used for the test of fluency, and comprehension, must be ordered in relation to difficulty.

(2) ((The superintendent of public instruction shall select reading passages for use by schools and school districts participating in pilot projects under RCW 28A.300.320 during the 1997-98 school year. The final collection must be selected by June 30, 1998. The superintendent of public instruction may add reading passages to the initial list if the passages are comparable in format to the initial passages approved by the expert panel in subsection (1) of this section.

(3))) The superintendent of public instruction ((shall develop a))may provide an estimated per-pupil cost for ((the)) assessments ((in the collection that details the costs for administering the assessments, booklets, scoring, and training required to reliably administer the test))aligned to the state learning standards. To the extent funds are appropriated, the superintendent of public instruction shall ((pay for the cost of administering and scoring the assessments, booklets or other assessment material, and training required to administer the test))provide districts with funds to purchase assessment materials and professional learning for educators needed to implement the district's reading assessment system.

(1) For the purposes of this chapter and chapter 28A.232 RCW, "personalized learning" means a delivery method of basic education instruction where learning is tailored for each student's strengths, needs, and interests. This includes enabling student choice in what, how, when, and where they learn in order to provide flexibility and supports for students to meet state learning standards.

(2) School districts may implement personalized learning through a variety of methods or settings including, but not limited to, project-based learning, mastery-based learning, individualized education programs, career and technical education, reengagement schools, magnet schools, and other innovative programs at the discretion of the school districts.

(3) Nothing in this section is intended to alter the discretion that school districts may exercise in using available school funding models to support the implementation of personalized learning including, but not limited to, personalized learning experience courses as defined in chapter 28A.232 RCW.

(4) When the delivery method for personalized learning is provided in whole or in part independently from the regular classroom schedule, the course must comply with the provisions of chapter 28A.232 RCW.