Project-based learning is popular with many parents, students, and teachers because of its focus on problem-solving, critical thinking, creativity, and real-world application (Gallup, 2019). It encourages teachers to act as facilitators while students actively engage in teacherand student-posed learning challenges, working alone and in groups on…

Students earning college credit while meeting the requirements of Washington's high school diploma are basic education students. Yet every year in Washington, students and their families pay out-of-pocket for the fees, books, and supplies that are required for participation in dual credit programs. This creates inequity by only allowing students…

College Preparatory Programs with Exams (CPPEs) include academically-rigorous high school classes that culminate in standardized exam-based assessments. Students take the classes as part of their high school schedule and apply them toward their graduation requirements, typically whether or not they take the exams at the end. Without the exam,…

Dual credit courses give high school students the potential to earn both college and high school credit at the same time, either through completion of a college-level course or through performance on an exam. The 2019 Supplemental Operating Budget (Senate Bill [SB] 6032, Sec. 501 [30]) provided funding intended to reduce the cost of dual credit…

Advanced high-school courses, such as Advanced Placement (AP) courses in the United States, present a content selection conundrum of major proportions. Judicious content selection is necessary if students are to learn subject matter meaningfully, but the sheer breadth of tested material in these courses promotes nearly the opposite:…

Through Engrossed Second Substitute House Bill 1599 (E2SHB 1599) the Legislature tasked the State Board of Education (SBE) with providing an analysis of the equity and adequacy of the new graduation pathway options through stakeholder outreach and engagement. SBE has solicited and received feedback on the graduation pathway options. In the…

In 2015, legislation to improve access to dual-credit programs and to reduce disparities in access and completion--particularly for low income and underrepresented students--was enacted. The new law focused on expanding access to College in the High School but acknowledged issues in other dual-credit programs and reinforced the notion that cost…

Washington Student Achievement Council's 10-Year Roadmap sets a goal for 2023 of having 70 percent of Washington adults (ages 25-44) receive a postsecondary credential. At the same time, dramatic cuts in state funding for higher education, particularly since 2008, have shifted more of the cost of higher education onto students and families, making…

The Washington Legislature directed the State Board of Education (SBE) to provide an analysis of the equity and adequacy of new graduation pathway options through stakeholder outreach and engagement. This report contains the "Second Interim Graduation Pathway Options Report--July 2020" and the "Washington Graduation Pathway Options:…

Washington's 2008 Strategic Master Plan for Higher Education called for creating "multiple pathways from high school to college or workforce training" --through greater use of dual credit and concurrent high school and college enrollment options. The most prevalent of these in Washington are Running Start, which accounts for 12,500 FTE;…

Radical acceleration from middle school to university is an unusual option in the United States. The Early Entrance Program and the University of Washington (UW) Academy for Young Scholars housed in the Halbert and Nancy Robinson Center for Young Scholars are two of only 21 early university entrance programs offered in the United States. Due to…

In the Shattering Expectations series, the reports focus on calling attention to gaps at the high end of achievement and shattering expectations about the achievement of our low-income students and students of color that have existed for far too long. Each report will provide examples of schools that are breaking long entrenched patterns and how…