As part of our work on the alignment of graduation requirements with the Washington Profile of a Graduate, SBE staff attended the Association of Washington Student Leaders (AWSL) student voice meeting on April 11, the Washington State School Directors Association (WSSDA) Student Representative Network meeting on April 18, and held a student listening session facilitated by SBE student members Pavan Venkatakrishnan and McKenna Roberts on May 3. The AWSL meeting had approximately 25 students and the WSSDA Student Representative Network had approximately 10 students. The SBE-hosted student listening session had 26 students register, with about seven students participating in addition to the two student Board members. 

At the May Board meeting, members will advance the alignment work by beginning to focus on topics for developing recommendations. Recommendations for alignment of graduation requirements are due in a report to the Governor and Education Committees of the Legislature in December 2022.

Word cloud exercises

During the SBE-hosted student listening session, participants were asked, “What three words would you use to describe current graduation requirements?” The following word clouds were created by participants in response to this question. The more commonly used words are displayed in larger font. Participants were then asked, “What three words would you hope to use to describe graduation requirements in the future?” The most commonly used words to answer the first question were “stressful," “specific," and “overwhelming.” In answer to the second question about possible future graduation requirements, participants hoped for “clear,” “attainable,” and “personalized” graduation requirements. Download a copy of the exercise results.

Find the full memo on student feedback, the full memo on public feedback, view the recording of SBE's student-hosted session, and learn more about the alignment project in general at sbe.wa.gov/alignment.