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High School and Beyond Plan

The High School and Beyond Plan is a graduation requirement for every student. It's a process for students, parents, and teachers to guide students through high school and think about their future. Plans are personalized and designed to help students set, visualize, and work to achieve goals. A High School and Beyond Plan is one of the three components, along with Credit and Subject Area Requirements, and Graduation Pathway Options, that Washington students must complete to achieve a high school diploma.

Emergency waiver research brief

In 2021, the legislature authorized the State Board of Education to establish an emergency waiver program to allow school districts to waive certain high school graduation requirements in the wake of COVID-19. The waiver was designed to be used on an individual student basis after the district makes a good faith effort to help the student meet the requirements.

September meeting recap

EC CommitteeIt was another historic meeting this September as student member Pavan Venkatakrishnan was elected to the Board’s Executive Committee (it provides guidance on the Board’s agenda and oversight of the budget). The Executive Committee is now comprised of Mary Fertakis, Harium Martin-Morris, Pavan Venkatakrishnan, Bill Kallappa, and Kevin Wang (photo to the right). Pavan will be the first student member of this committee.

The Real SBE Seal

The Washington State Board must adopt a seal, and that seal shall be kept in the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (28A.305.130). 

July meeting recap

Student Board members cast official votes for the first time in the SBE’s 145-year history as the Board passed a resolution honoring student voice. The meeting was July 13-14 (in Spokane and on Zoom). The Board also swore-in student representative Donalda Brantley and held a panel featuring former student members.

Resolution honoring student voice

During the first day of the July meeting, the State Board of Education honored past, present, and future student Board members by passing a resolution honoring student voice. The resolution comes after last session when the legislature passed SSB 5497, giving student members voting rights on the Board. Just before the resolution passed with full Board support, past members Autymn Wilde (now at Gonzaga), Joe Hofman (now at Georgetown), and Baxter Hershman (now living in Spain working with linguistics, soon to start technology career), joined the meeting and gave advice to current students.

Basic Education Compliance

In our state, SBE is responsible for certifying that school district are in compliance with the program requirements of Basic Education (WAC 180-16-195, WAC 180-16-200, and RCW 28A.150.220(7)) each year. This gives the Board an opportunity to work with districts, and to get important data about school district programming. See the graph below as an example of the kind of data collected (from last year). We hope to share more data and visualizations as we work to complete Basic Education Compliance verification.

The Superintendent's HS Art Show

The Superintendent's High School Art Show happens every year. It is co-hosted by OSPI and the Washington Art Education Association (WAEA). The State Board of Education (staff and Board members) select a piece for the State Board of Education Award and scholarship in support of young artists and arts education.

See past honorees:

WA's Mandatory & Encouraged Ed. Offerings

Download the two-page resourceIn our state, there are both required and encouraged educational offerings at each school district. The law tells us that districts must provide an educational program that allows students to meet graduation requirements.

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