State Board of Educations Needs Your Input

Late Monday afternoon in Vancouver Kathe Taylor, Policy Director at the Washington State Board of Education met with a half dozen principals and representatives of the Association of Washington School Principals to discuss new high school graduation requirements. The meeting was a candid conversation about the impact of changes to the state minimum graduation requirements on not only school operations, but also on student achievement and graduation rates.

Hopefully the meeting was a precursor the community meetings held in the evening in seven locations across the state. The Board wants to hear from citizens on questions such as:

• What academic skills should students have when they graduate from high school?
• What life skills should students possess when they graduate?
• What kinds of post-high school opportunities should a K-12 education prepare students for?
• Should high school graduation requirements necessarily align with vocational/technical, 2-year community colleges or 4-year college entry requriements?
• What should the content be for required third year maths?

The community meetings are going to held in the following locations:

• Bremerton, October 30
• Bethel/Tacoma, November 5
• Everett, November 14
• Yakima, November 27
• Vancouver, November 29
• Spokane, December 3
• Seattle area, December 4

Clearly the SBE needs to hear from principals, especially high school principals, as the Board defines the purpose of the high school diploma and how a students meets those standards. To find the specific details of when and where the meetings will be held, click here.

A second round of community meetings will be held in the spring of 20078 where the public will can provide feedback on the draft recommendations before they are finalized.