On September 17-18, the State Board of Education (SBE) met in Renton, Washington, at the Puget Sound Educational Service District to:

·         Welcome Connie Fletcher (Issaquah) as the newest appointee to the Board.

·         Receive an update on education reform-centered federal and state initiatives.

·         Review the CORE 24 graduation requirements framework policy.

·         Receive an initial report from the CORE 24 Implementation Task Force.

·         Learn about La Center School District’s new 24 credit high school graduation requirements.

·         Review future rule changes regarding State Board of Education vacancy appointments.

·         Review the rule changes for additional State Board of Community and Technical College High School Diploma options.

·         Consider the application and criteria for districts wishing to implement a flexible school year calendar.

·         Receive an update on the System Performance Accountability work.

·         Review the 2009-2010 Work Plan / Communications Strategy.

·         Receive information on OSPI’s plans for approval of multi-district online providers.

·         Review the latest WASL scores and AYP data.

·         Discuss potential revisions to the 180 day waiver process.

 

The Board approved the following:

·         Private schools for 2009-2010.

·         The criteria for the pilot Efficiency Calendar Waiver. This waiver, adopted by the 2009 Legislature, allows up to five districts to modify the 180 school day calendar (while preserving instructional hours) for the sake of economy and efficiency.

·         A new research task for the CORE 24 Implementation Task Force.

·         The Board’s 2009-10 Work Plan and Communications Plan.

·         Suggested revisions to the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) on the process for appointments to Board elected public school member vacancies.

·         The 2010-2011 Board meeting dates.

·         Contract for a National Board Certified Teachers mobility and retention study.

 

·         The federal government has a number of major initiatives to stimulate education reform in the states. Washington State also has several major education reform movements as well. The Board received information on why both the federal and state education reform initiatives are critical to the Board’s goal to improve student achievement and accountability.

 

 

·         Since 2006, the Board has been considering the components of a Meaningful High School Diploma, including revising the purpose of a diploma (January 2008) and approving a framework of CORE 24 graduation requirements (July 2008) and the high school and beyond plan and culminating project. The Board received a review of the work completed thus far.

 

·         The Implementation Task Force shared its preliminary considerations in regard to the adoption of a 24 credit graduation requirement. This has been a work in progress, commencing with the group’s initial meeting in March 2009. The Task Force is now considering the facet of “automatic enrollment” of CORE 24, and asked the Board for permission to further explore this issue of flexibility in the CORE 24 system.

·         In May of 2009, the La Center School District Board of Directors approved new high school graduation requirements that align with the current expectations of CORE 24. The new requirements create three pathways to the same La Center High School diploma. Each pathway requires 24 credits, including two credits in arts and three in science. A PowerPoint overview of these new graduation requirements are here. The Seattle Times has a story about La Center’s new graduation requirements here.

·         There are occasions when the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) has rules that affect SBE business. SBE is requesting a change to the OSPI vacancy appointment process, allowing the new appointee to fulfill a new term rather than run for immediate reelection, as well as redefining how the vacancy will be filled through an election conducted by OSPI rather than have the current elected public school Board members make the appointment. SBE also discussed requesting a change to the election process in unopposed contests.

 

·         The Board reviewed draft amendments to its rule for community college high school diploma programs (WAC 180-51-053). The draft language references two new options created by House Bill 1758 that allow community or technical colleges to issue a high school diploma (without meeting the State Board of Education’s graduation requirements) to students if they complete an Associate’s Degree and are either enrolled in Running Start or are twenty-one years or older.

 

 

·         The Board received updates on the continued evolution of the System Performance Accountability Framework, including the Accountability Index, a system of Voluntary and Required Action, and federal direction that may prompt the need for state alignment. A PowerPoint overview of this information is available here.

 

 

·         Online learning is a rapidly emerging educational delivery strategy in Washington’s public schools. The 2009 Washington State Legislature passed SSB 5410 to begin to address this growing movement, aiming to establish an organized approach to public K-12 online learning in Washington State. The Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction provided an overview of Online Learning Quality Review and presented draft prototype criteria of approval for multi-district online course providers to the Board for its consideration.

 

 

 

·         Under No Child Left Behind, schools and districts that receive federal education dollars (Title I) and miss making achievement goals, commonly referred to as Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), face specific consequences. As stated in OSPI’s preliminary report, this year Washington State had 1073 schools and 103 districts that did not meet AYP. Representatives of OSPI shared this information via PowerPoint to the Board. A second PowerPoint outlined Washington State’s eight year trend in making AYP.

 

·         The pilot program established by SHB 1292 provides SBE the authority to provide waivers from the 180-school day requirement for the purposes of economy and efficiency. The Board reviewed draft procedures and guidelines and a prototype application as recommended by the 180-Day Waiver Committee. After public comment and discussion the draft documents were revised and then adopted by the Board.

·         The Board continued its review of the procedure for waivers proposed to improve student achievement. Board members suggested that the procedure include requiring school districts to provide measureable objectives and details about the calendar, including the number of professional development days and half days. In addition, Board members discussed having the waiver process aligned with the Board’s accountability work and having the Executive Director approve waivers.