SBE held its Board meeting December 3, and discussed basic education reporting and approvals, indicators of education system health, the annual assessment report, and more. You can find documents from the meeting on SBE’s Simbli page. Find a recording of the meeting on TVW’s website.

Basic education Annually, SBE requires districts to report on their compliance with the delivery of the program of basic education. Between August and November, school districts answer a set of key questions regarding policies and practices supporting the goals of the program of basic education and confirm that they are meeting minimum requirements. Based on review of each school district’s program assurance form, SBE staff recommend school districts to be certified as following basic education approval requirements.

At the December meeting, staff presented recommendations about 2020-21 compliance approvals.  

Private school actions The Board considered additional private school approvals and changes in status (from provisional to full approval). 

Indicators of educational system health In 2013, the Legislature passed ESSB 5491 to ensure that education funding enhancements were leading to an improving educational system. SBE was tasked with reporting on the statewide indicators of the educational system health on a biennial basis. The Board discussed a draft version of the fifth report on the indicators of the educational system health during the December meetings. The status of the indicators is as follows:

• only one of the six indicators (readiness for college coursework) is currently on-track to meet the long-term goals,
• the state's educational system is not posting outcomes in the top ten percent nationally, and
• the most recent results for Washington are mostly lower than the results for the peer states.

SBE staff provided information on the statewide indicators of the educational system health via video prior to the meeting and discussion followed.

Annual assessment report SBE, with the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI), annually submits a report to the Legislature on the state assessment system. The SBE section of the of the report:

• summarizes the role of the Board in the assessment system,
• describes graduation pathway options, and the impact of school closures and cancellation of assessments on graduation pathway options in spring 2020,
• describes the activities of the Board involving the assessment system during 2020, and
• anticipates what the Board may work on concerning the assessment system in 2021, including supporting the Board's legislative priorities and perhaps reviewing the assessments and scores used for meeting graduation pathway options.

A draft of the SBE section of the report was included, as well as a video presentation. 

Additional items

Mastery-based Learning report The Mastery-based Learning (MBL) Work Group has examined opportunities to increase student access to relevant and robust mastery-based academic pathways aligned to personal career goals and postsecondary education, and reviewed the role of the High School and Beyond Plan (HSBP) in supporting mastery-based learning. The group’s recommendations are highlighted in the 2020 report, submitted December 1. Download an abbreviated, graphic version of the report.

Upcoming Board meeting The next meeting is scheduled for January 13 and 14, 2021. The agenda will be posted one week in advance of the meeting.

Download a PDF version of this recap.