Learning standards

AN ACT Relating to learning standards and graduation 1
requirements; amending RCW 28A.655.070; creating new sections; and 2
providing expiration dates. 3
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:4
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. (1) As the state board of education 5
reviews potential changes to graduation requirements, the board 6
shall, at minimum, include in its recommendations adjustments 7
necessary to ensure that students have adequate opportunity to 8
demonstrate competency of the foundational skills established in the 9
high school computer science state learning standards.10
(2) In developing the recommendations, the state board of 11
education must: 12
(a) Consult with students, parents and legal guardians, 13
educators, K-12 education partners, postsecondary partners, 14
employers, and community members; and 15
(b) Consider how to incorporate the competencies described in 16
subsection (1) of this section into the framework of graduation 17
requirements, including consideration of credit options and 18
competency-based options. 19
S-0479.2
SENATE BILL 5327
State of Washington 69th Legislature 2025 Regular Session
By Senators Wellman, Nobles, and C. Wilson
Read first time 01/17/25. Referred to Committee on Early Learning &
K-12 Education.
p. 1 SB 5327
(3) The state board of education shall, in accordance with RCW 1
43.01.036, report its recommendations to the governor and the 2
education committees of the legislature by December 31, 2026.3
(4) This section expires August 1, 2027. 4
NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. (1) The office of the superintendent of 5
public instruction shall initiate a review and update of the state 6
computer science learning standards for students in grades 7
kindergarten through 12. In developing the update of the state 8
computer science learning standards, the office of the superintendent 9
of public instruction shall review computer science learning 10
standards adopted by other states and consult with nonprofit 11
organizations that have a demonstrated expertise in assisting states 12
in developing computer science learning standards. In developing the 13
state learning standards and supporting documents for grades nine 14
through 12, the office of the superintendent of public instruction 15
must identify any standards considered to be foundational for 16
graduation purposes as established in section 1 of this act.17
(2) The state board of education shall collect information from 18
school districts about the courses and other learning opportunities 19
currently offered in computer science for high school students in 20
their district, how the district already assesses or plans to assess 21
competency of the computer science state learning standards, and what 22
the district may need to implement the state board of education's 23
recommendations established under section 1 of this act. The data 24
collection required by this subsection may be conducted concurrently 25
with other oversight and monitoring activities conducted by the state 26
board of education. The state board of education shall report a 27
summary of the information collected to the legislature by December 28
31, 2025, and shall include any recommendations on what actions the 29
legislature could take to assist school districts in meeting the 30
needs identified by school districts, including whether exploring 31
options for increasing the number of educators endorsed to teach 32
computer science is necessary. 33
(3) This section expires August 1, 2027. 34
Sec. 3. RCW 28A.655.070 and 2024 c 157 s 4 are each amended to 35
read as follows: 36
(1) The superintendent of public instruction shall develop state 37
learning standards that identify the knowledge and skills all public 38
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school students need to know and be able to do based on the student 1
learning goals in RCW 28A.150.210, develop student assessments, and 2
implement the accountability recommendations and requests regarding 3
assistance, rewards, and recognition of the state board of education.4
(2) The superintendent of public instruction shall:5
(a) Periodically revise the state learning standards, as needed, 6
based on the student learning goals in RCW 28A.150.210. Goals one and 7
two shall be considered primary. To the maximum extent possible, the 8
superintendent shall integrate goal s three and four ((and the 9
knowledge and skill areas in the other goals in )) into the state 10
learning standards; 11
(b) Include a screening for biased content in each development or 12
revision of a state learning standard and ensure that the concepts of 13
diversity, equity, and inclusion, as those terms are defined in RCW 14
28A.415.443, are incorporated into each new or revised state learning 15
standard. In meeting the requirements of this subsection (2)(b), the 16
superintendent of public instruction shall consult with the 17
applicable commissions established in Title 43 RCW and other persons 18
and organizations with relevant expertise; and 19
(c) Review and prioritize the state learning standards and 20
identify, with clear and concise descriptions, the grade level 21
content expectations to be assessed on the statewide student 22
assessment and used for state or federal accountability purposes. The 23
review, prioritization, and identification shall result in more focus 24
and targeting with an emphasis on depth over breadth in the number of 25
grade level content expectations assessed at each grade level. Grade 26
level content expectations shall be articulated over the grades as a 27
sequence of expectations and performances that are logical, build 28
with increasing depth after foundational knowledge and skills are 29
acquired, and reflect, where appropriate, the sequential nature of 30
the discipline. The office of the superintendent of public 31
instruction, within seven working days, shall post on its website any 32
grade level content expectations provided to an assessment vendor for 33
use in constructing the statewide student assessment.34
(3)(a) In consultation with the state board of education, the 35
superintendent of public instruction shall maintain and continue to 36
develop and revise a statewide academic assessment system in the 37
content areas of reading, writing, mathematics, and science for use 38
in the elementary, middle, and high school years designed to 39
determine if each student has mastered the state learning standards 40
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identified in subsection (1) of this section. School districts shall 1
administer the assessments under guidelines adopted by the 2
superintendent of public instruction. The academic assessment system 3
may include a variety of assessment methods, including criterion-4
referenced and performance-based measures. 5
(b) Effective with the 2009 administration of the Washington 6
assessment of student learning and continuing with the statewide 7
student assessment, the superintendent shall redesign the assessment 8
in the content areas of reading, mathematics, and science in all 9
grades except high school by shortening test administration and 10
reducing the number of short answer and extended response questions.11
(c) By the 2014-15 school year, the superintendent of public 12
instruction, in consultation with the state board of education, shall 13
modify the statewide student assessment system to transition to 14
assessments developed with a multistate consortium, as provided in 15
this subsection: 16
(i) The assessments developed with a multistate consortium to 17
assess student proficiency in English language arts and mathematics 18
shall be administered beginning in the 2014-15 school year, and 19
beginning with the graduating class of 2020, the assessments must be 20
administered to students in the tenth grade. The reading and writing 21
assessments shall not be administered by the superintendent of public 22
instruction or schools after the 2013-14 school year.23
(ii) The high school assessments in English language arts and 24
mathematics in (c)(i) of this subsection shall be used for the 25
purposes of federal and state accountability and for assessing 26
student career and college readiness. 27
(d) The statewide academic assessment system must also include 28
the Washington access to instruction and measurement assessment for 29
students with significant cognitive challenges. 30
(4) If the superintendent proposes any modification to the state 31
learning standards or the statewide assessments, then the 32
superintendent shall, upon request, provide opportunities for the 33
education committees of the house of representatives and the senate 34
to review the assessments and proposed modifications to the state 35
learning standards before the modifications are adopted.36
(5) The assessment system shall be designed so that the results 37
under the assessment system are used by educators as tools to 38
evaluate instructional practices, and to initiate appropriate 39
educational support for students who have not mastered the state 40
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learning standards at the appropriate periods in the student's 1
educational development. 2
(6) By September 2007, the results for reading and mathematics 3
shall be reported in a format that will allow parents and teachers to 4
determine the academic gain a student has acquired in those content 5
areas from one school year to the next. 6
(7) To assist parents and teachers in their efforts to provide 7
educational support to individual students, the superintendent of 8
public instruction shall provide as much individual student 9
performance information as possible within the constraints of the 10
assessment system's item bank. The superintendent shall also provide 11
to school districts: 12
(a) Information on classroom-based and other assessments that may 13
provide additional achievement information for individual students; 14
and 15
(b) A collection of diagnostic tools that educators may use to 16
evaluate the academic status of individual students. The tools shall 17
be designed to be inexpensive, easily administered, and quickly and 18
easily scored, with results provided in a format that may be easily 19
shared with parents and students. 20
(8) To the maximum extent possible, the superintendent shall 21
integrate knowledge and skill areas in development of the 22
assessments. 23
(9) Assessments for goals three and four of RCW 28A.150.210 shall 24
be integrated in the state learning standards and assessments for 25
goals one and two. 26
(10) The superintendent shall develop assessments that are 27
directly related to the state learning standards, and are not biased 28
toward persons with different learning styles, racial or ethnic 29
backgrounds, or on the basis of gender. 30
(11) The superintendent shall review available and appropriate 31
options for competency-based assessments that meet the state learning 32
standards. In accordance with the review required by this subsection, 33
the superintendent shall provide a report and recommendations to the 34
education committees of the house of representatives and the senate 35
by November 1, 2019. 36
(12) The superintendent shall consider methods to address the 37
unique needs of special education students when developing the 38
assessments under this section. 39
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(13) The superintendent shall consider methods to address the 1
unique needs of highly capable students when developing the 2
assessments under this section. 3
(14) The superintendent shall post on the superintendent's 4
website lists of resources and model assessments in social studies, 5
the arts, and health and fitness. 6
(15) The superintendent shall integrate financial education 7
skills and content knowledge into the state learning standards 8
pursuant to RCW 28A.300.460(2)(d). 9
(16)(a) The superintendent shall notify the state board of 10
education in writing before initiating the development or revision of 11
the state learning standards under subsections (1) and (2) of this 12
section. The notification must be provided to the state board of 13
education in advance for review at a regularly scheduled or special 14
board meeting and must include the following information:15
(i) The subject matter of the state learning standards;16
(ii) The reason or reasons the superintendent is initiating the 17
development or revision; and 18
(iii) The process and timeline that the superintendent intends to 19
follow for the development or revision. 20
(b) The state board of education may provide a response to the 21
superintendent's notification for consideration in the development or 22
revision process in (a) of this subsection. 23
(c) Prior to adoption by the superintendent of any new or revised 24
state learning standards, the superintendent shall submit the 25
proposed new or revised state learning standards to the state board 26
of education in advance in writing for review at a regularly 27
scheduled or special board meeting. The state board of education may 28
provide a response to the superintendent's proposal for consideration 29
prior to final adoption. 30
(17) The state board of education may propose new or revised 31
state learning standards to the superintendent. The superintendent 32
must respond to the state board of education's proposal in writing.33
(18) The superintendent shall produce and post on its website a 34
schedule for the revision of state learning standards under 35
subsection (2) of this section by September 1, 2025. In addition to 36
notifying parents, schools, and the public of the revision schedules 37
and timelines, the website posting must be updated as necessary to 38
inform persons of the status of any pending revisions, and of any 39
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plans or actions related to developing new state learning standards 1
under subsection (1) of this section. 2
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