You are here

Home » Families

Families

Designing a New Graduation Pathway Option

The most meaningful learning experiences are relevant, engaging, and hands-on. These experiences should prepare students for graduation and their next steps. For some students, a new, performance-based graduation pathway option can align with post-high school goals, inspire greatness, and recognize real-world experiences. To make this new pathway the most meaningful it can be, we need your help designing rules for it.

Chehalis Sophomore, Castulo Gonzalez, Selected as Western Washington Student Board Member

CastuloThe Washington State Board of Education and the Association of Washington Student Leaders is proud to announce the future addition of Castulo Gonzalez as Western Washington Student Representative on the Board. Castulo is currently a sophomore at W.F. West High School in Chehalis.

The truth about adding a performance-based pathway

Chair Bill KallappaAfter three years of research, and with support from communities across Washington, lawmakers in the State House passed House Bill 1308 to add a performance-based option to the graduation pathways requirement.

What does performance-based mean?

Our students are capable of exceeding standards—and showing us how they do it. We see this in learning environments like Gibson Ek in Issaquah. Gibson Ek requires students to document their learning in a “portfolio” that shows their best, most impactful work, and their journey to get there. Students shadow and intern with real companies or organizations, develop problem-solving solutions for their community, and meet standards in all subjects with evidence-based projects. These learning experiences are all analyzed and documented, usually online.

Welcome Indy and Star!

This month, SBE welcomes Indiana Hilmes (Selah) and Star Mendoza (Puyallup) as student interns - the first SBE Communicators to join the team! Both are juniors, passionate communicators, and storytellers. 

December meeting recap

On December 1, the Board met to discuss reports on educational system health and graduation requirements. The Board also considered approving proposed rules for high school graduation requirements, to address recent legislation on the role of computer science courses in meeting graduation requirements. 

 

Statement: ethnic studies grad. requirement

The Board has received several public comments about a potential “vote on ethnic studies” over the past few days. This is not accurate. Please read on to find out what will actually be discussed at this week’s meeting.

SBE Student Communicators

In partnership with the Association of Washington Student Leaders (AWSL), SBE student communicators get the opportunity to work with state government professionals, community organizations, and state-wide peers.

Who they are
In January 2023, SBE welcomed Indiana Hilmes (Selah) and Star Mendoza (Puyallup) as student interns! Both are juniors, passionate communicators, and storytellers. Read more about them on SBE's blog post announcing their start.

Students' advice for lawmakers

SBE recently posted a coloring sheet activity to pair with a naming contest that is going on now. The sheet asked two questions in addition to a name submission for the SBE Seal. Here is a brief summary from the nearly 200 students who participated. Find the gallery of coloring sheets on SBE’s Flikr page. Also, check out the Instagram highlights about the contest so far. 

Pages