Implementation of Career- and College‑Ready Requirements for High School Graduation in Washington

Title:	Implementation of Career- and College‑Ready Requirements for High School Graduation in Washington
Description:	The Washington State Board of Education recently developed career- and college-ready (CCR) graduation credit requirements that are more aligned with career pathways and with admissions standards at the state’s universities. The requirements took effect for the class graduating in 2019, though some districts implemented them earlier and others received waivers to delay implementation until the class of 2021. Local and state education leaders in Washington state asked Regional Educational Laboratory Northwest to conduct a study of districts’ progress toward implementing the CCR graduation credit requirements from 2018 to 2019. The study looked at student groups from the class of 2018 that did and did not meet the CCR graduation credit requirements and also examined changes in student outcomes when districts increased fine arts, science, world languages, or total graduation credit requirements in any year between 2012/13 and 2017/18. The study found that the percentage of districts implementing all CCR graduation credit requirements increased from 9 percent in 2018 to 56 percent in 2019. The districts that adopted the new requirements by 2018 tended to have fewer students per teacher in required content areas than districts that did not meet all the requirements. About 27 percent of all 2018 graduates met the CCR graduation credit requirements, with gaps that suggest additional barriers exist for students of color, students eligible for the national school lunch program, current English learner students, and students who have low scores on grade 8 state assessments. Finally, past district-level increases in fine arts, science, world languages, and total graduation credit requirements showed little impact on student academic outcomes.
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Cover Date:	July 2020
Web Release:	July 20, 2020
Print Release:	July 20, 2020
Publication #:	REL 2020020 General Ordering Information
Center/Program:	REL
Associated Centers:	NCEE
Authors:	Havala Hanson and Traci Fantz July 2020
Type of Product:	Descriptive Study
Keywords:	Career/Technical Education College Preparation Graduation Requirements Pre-College Programs States
Questions:	For questions about the content of this Descriptive Study, please contact: Amy Johnson.