In the context of a tight labor market with more jobs than workers to fill openings, and as young people increasingly seek alternatives to college, apprenticeships have become more important than ever. While the "earn and learn" model of apprenticeship seems to be the obvious choice to address labor market needs, it remains underutilized…

Financial support provided by the Legislature helps to ensure Washington children have access to healthy school meals. In fiscal year 2022, the Legislature provided $11.5 million to eliminate the co-pay for reduced-price meals, support summer meal programs, provide school districts with financial support for breakfast meal service, and provide…

This report was written in compliance with Senate Bill 5437 Section 6, to explore the development of a Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program (ECEAP) Tribal Pathway that meets the needs of Tribal Sovereign Nations in providing ECEAP in their communities and decreasing the opportunity gap…

For many non-traditional candidates, the path into teaching is riddled with bumps and detours. They must pay for increasingly expensive coursework and certification costs, attend classes that conflict with work schedules, and forgo wages to complete unfunded student teaching requirements. These roadblocks can deter valuable local…

The Behavioral Interventions to Advance Self-Sufficiency (BIAS) project conducted 15 randomized controlled trials of behavioral interventions across eight states, in the domains of work support, child support, and child care. BIAS used a systematic approach called "behavioral diagnosis and design" to develop the interventions and their…

Early awareness strategies, from outreach campaigns to cohort-based learning groups to scholarships, are a group of efforts that help middle school students stay on the path to college and understand how to fund their education. These strategies become part of early awareness programs, which seek to put students on a college-going path by…

In cities and towns across America, millions of children and youth get out of school by mid-afternoon but have neither a safe, supervised place to go nor a structured or engaging activity in which to participate. Because the hours between 3:00 and 6:00 p.m. are when young people are most likely to be affected by crime or to engage in risky…

This report provides an update on the Transitional Bilingual Instruction Program (TBIP). In 2012-13, 104,025 English language learners (ELLs) received state services through the TBIP. This was an increase of just over 9% from the previous year. Most students live in urban areas along Interstate 5 corridor and in rural areas like the Yakima Valley.…

Washington State Department of Early Learning (DEL) contracted with Thrive by Five Washington to facilitate and write this report. A collaborative group of key stakeholders helped develop this plan, which consists of actionable policy recommendations in seven high-level focus areas. Within each area are specific "next steps" that build…

Response to intervention (RTI) can be both a system for providing early interventions to struggling students and a special education diagnostic tool for evaluating and identifying students with specific learning disabilities. Contributing to the very limited literature on state-level approaches, this report describes how nine states define and…

This manual provides Washington state consumers and their advocates with information and guidance to enable them to pursue appropriate avenues for funding assistive technology (AT). Chapter 1 discusses the legislative history of AT, the definition of AT, and basic funding strategies. Chapter 2 reviews health-related sources of AT funding including…

Beginning in 1980, legislation in six states to establish a Children's Trust Fund has been enacted. The legislation creates new sources of support for preventive services in the area of child abuse in Kansas, Washington, Iowa, Virginia, Michigan, and California. To show how the trust-fund concept has been and can be adapted to different political…

"Moving the Needle on Poverty" is designed to provide Colorado leaders with an up-to-date picture of the diverse strategies that states across the nation are pursuing to lift individuals, families, and communities out of poverty. As the report indicates, many states are choosing to set specific and measurable goals for poverty reduction,…

Washington State faces the challenge of balancing a number of conflicting economic and political conditions that impact K-12 education either directly or indirectly. These include reduced vehicle license fees, an existing statewide spending limit, a state revenue surplus, proposals to provide property-tax relief, proposed voter initiatives to…

SECTION 10 OF THE WASHINGTON STATE PROGRAM PLAN AMENDMENT, FISCAL YEAR 1968, TO THE STATE PLAN FOR TITLE 1 OF THE HIGHER EDUCATION ACT OF 1965 CONSISTS OF A SUBMITTAL STATEMENT TOUCHING ON PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT AND COORDINATION AND ON THE SELECTION OF PERTINENT COMMUNITY PROBLEMS, A PROGRAM STATEMENT (INCLUDING A LIST OF SPECIFIC PROGRAMS) STRESSING…