Transition:
How Change Ties Into State and National Standards
There are other urgent reasons behind the changes being made in Federal Way
schools. Beginning with the graduating class of 2008, the state will require
that all students pass all four areas of the Washington Assessment of Student
Learning to graduate. They’ll also need to complete a 13th-year plan
and a culminating project to graduate – in addition to earning the
23.5 credits that our district currently requires.
In 1996, the Federal Way Board of Education looked ahead and determined that meeting the state’s then newly announced graduation requirements would require a serious re-thinking of how the district provides an education to its students. A transition to middle schools and four-year high schools in the fall of 2003 was one of the first changes identified. However, simply shuffling grades will not produce the necessary improvements. The December 2002 issue of the Progress Report to the Community (484K PDF), discussed some of changes we’re making as part that transition, and how many of these techniques are already being used in the district. To read more about Washington state standards, go to http://www.partnership4learning.org/forparents.htm or www.k12.wa.us and click on Assessments and Research or on Boards and Commissions.