WAC 180-18-050
Procedure to obtain waiver. (1) State
board of education approval of district waiver requests
pursuant to WAC 180-18-030 and 180-18-040 (1) and (3) shall
occur at a state board meeting prior to implementation. A
district's waiver application shall be in the form of a
resolution adopted by the district board of directors. The
resolution shall identify the basic education requirement for
which the waiver is requested and include information on how
the waiver will support improving student achievement. The
resolution shall be accompanied by information detailed in the
guidelines and application form available on the state board
of education's web site.
(2) The application for a waiver and all supporting
documentation must be received by the state board of education
at least fifty days prior to the state board of education
meeting where consideration of the waiver shall occur. The
state board of education shall review all applications and
supporting documentation to insure the accuracy of the
information. In the event that deficiencies are noted in the
application or documentation, districts will have the
opportunity to make corrections and to seek state board
approval at a subsequent meeting.
(3)(a) Under this section, a district meeting the
eligibility requirements may develop and implement a plan that
meets the program requirements identified under this section
and any additional guidelines developed by the state board of
education for a waiver from the provisions of the minimum one
hundred eighty-day school year requirement pursuant to RCW 28A.305.140 and WAC 180-16-215. The plan
must be designed to improve student achievement by enhancing
the educational program for all students in the district or
for individual schools in the district by offering the
equivalent in annual minimum program hour offerings as
prescribed in RCW 28A.150.220 in such grades as are conducted
by such school district. This section will remain in effect
only through August 31, 2018. Any plans for the use of waived
days authorized under this section may not extend beyond
August 31, 2018.
(b) A district is not eligible to develop and implement a
plan under this section if:
(i) The superintendent of public instruction has
identified a school within the district as a persistently low
achieving school; or
(ii) A district has a current waiver from the minimum one
hundred eighty-day school year requirement approved by the
board and in effect under WAC 180-18-040.
(c) A district shall involve staff, parents, and
community members in the development of the plan.
(d) The plan can span a maximum of three school years.
(e) The plan shall be consistent with the district's
improvement plan and the improvement plans of its schools.
(f) A district shall hold a public hearing and have the
school board approve the final plan in resolution form.
(g) The maximum number of waived days that a district may
use is dependent on the number of learning improvement days,
or their equivalent, funded by the state for any given school
year. For any school year, a district may use a maximum of
three waived days if the state does not fund any learning
improvement days. This maximum number of waived days will be
reduced for each additional learning improvement day that is
funded by the state. When the state funds three or more
learning improvement days for a school year, then no days may
be waived under this section.
Scenario
Number of learning
improvement days
funded by state for
a given school year
Maximum number of
waived days allowed
under this section for
the same school year
A
0
3
B
1
2
C
2
1
D
3 or more
0
(h) The plan shall include goals that can be measured
through established data collection practices and assessments.
At a minimum, the plan shall include goal benchmarks and
results that address the following subjects or issues:
(i) Increasing student achievement on state assessments
in reading, mathematics, and science for all grades tested;
(ii) Reducing the achievement gap for student subgroups;
(iii) Improving on-time and extended high school
graduation rates (only for districts containing high schools).
(i) Under this section, a district shall only use one or
more of the following strategies in its plan to use waived
days:
(i) Use evaluations that are based in significant measure
on student growth to improve teachers' and school leaders'
performance;
(ii) Use data from multiple measures to identify and
implement comprehensive, research-based, instructional
programs that are vertically aligned from one grade to the
next as well as aligned with state academic standards;
(iii) Promote the continuous use of student data (such as
from formative, interim, and summative assessments) to inform
and differentiate instruction to meet the needs of individual
students;
(iv) Implement strategies designed to recruit, place, and
retain effective staff;
(v) Conduct periodic reviews to ensure that the
curriculum is being implemented with fidelity, is having the
intended impact on student achievement, and is modified if
ineffective;
(vi) Increase graduation rates through, for example,
credit-recovery programs, smaller learning communities, and
acceleration of basic reading and mathematics skills;
(vii) Establish schedules and strategies that increase
instructional time for students and time for collaboration and
professional development for staff;
(viii) Institute a system for measuring changes in
instructional practices resulting from professional
development;
(ix) Provide ongoing, high-quality, job-embedded
professional development to staff to ensure that they are
equipped to provide effective teaching;
(x) Develop teacher and school leader effectiveness;
(xi) Implement a school-wide "response-to-intervention"
model;
(xii) Implement a new or revised instructional program;
(xiii) Improve student transition from middle to high
school through transition programs or freshman academies;
(xv) Extend learning time and community oriented schools.
(j) The plan must not duplicate activities and strategies
that are otherwise provided by the district through the use of
late-start and early-release days.
(k) A district shall provide notification to the state
board of education thirty days prior to implementing a new
plan. The notification shall include the approved plan in
resolution form signed by the superintendent, the chair of the
school board, and the president of the local education
association; include a statement indicating the number of
certificated employees in the district and that all such
employees will be participating in the strategy or strategies
implemented under the plan for a day that is subject to a
waiver, and any other required information. The approved plan
shall, at least, include the following:
(i) Members of the plan's development team;
(ii) Dates and locations of public hearings;
(iii) Number of school days to be waived and for which
school years;
(iv) Number of late-start and early-release days to be
eliminated, if applicable;
(v) Description of the measures and standards used to
determine success and identification of expected benchmarks
and results;
(vi) Description of how the plan aligns with the district
and school improvement plans;
(vii) Description of the content and process of the
strategies to be used to meet the goals of the waiver;
(viii) Description of the innovative nature of the
proposed strategies;
(ix) Details about the collective bargaining agreements,
including the number of professional development days
(district-wide and individual teacher choice), full
instruction days, late-start and early-release days, and the
amount of other noninstruction time; and
(x) Include how all certificated staff will be engaged in
the strategy or strategies for each day requested.
(l) Within ninety days of the conclusion of an
implemented plan a school district shall report to the state
board of education on the degree of attainment of the plan's
expected benchmarks and results and the effectiveness of the
implemented strategies. The district may also include
additional information, such as investigative reports
completed by the district or third-party organizations, or
surveys of students, parents, and staff.
(m) A district is eligible to create a subsequent plan
under this section if the summary report of the enacted plan
shows improvement in, at least, the following plan's expected
benchmarks and results:
(i) Increasing student achievement on state assessments
in reading and mathematics for all grades tested;
(ii) Reducing the achievement gap for student subgroups;
(iii) Improving on-time and extended high school
graduation rates (only for districts containing high schools).
(n) A district eligible to create a subsequent plan shall
follow the steps for creating a new plan under this section.
The new plan shall not include strategies from the prior plan
that were found to be ineffective in the summary report of the
prior plan. The summary report of the prior plan shall be
provided to the new plan's development team and to the state
board of education as a part of the district's notification to
use a subsequent plan.
(o) A district that is ineligible to create a subsequent
plan under this section may submit a request for a waiver to
the state board of education under WAC 180-18-040(1) and
subsections (1) and (2) of this section.