On May 21, the FutureReady Task Force met to continue discussions on unresolved questions related to credit and subject area requirements as part of its work to develop an initial set of recommendations for revising Washington's high school graduation requirements. This discussion was informed by stakeholder feedback collected by the Board and recommendations made by FutureReady’s subject-matter expert-led subcommittees. Read the meeting summary to learn more about the discussion. 

What’s Next: The State Board of Education will hold its regularly scheduled meeting June 23–25 in Pullman. During this meeting, the Board will review input from the last Task Force meeting along with public comment. Members are expected to discuss and finalize a conceptual recommendation for changes to the graduation requirement framework that will be shared publicly for additional feedback before the July Task Force meeting. 

The Board will hold a work session on Wednesday, June 24, starting with a student panel at 9:00 a.m. The Board will accept real-time public comment on Wednesday and Thursday at 8:45 a.m.

SBE will host two informational webinars in July to share more about proposed changes to high school graduation requirements with some time for Q&A at the end.

Evening Session: July 8, 6-7:30 p.m.
Afternoon Session: July 9, 11-12:30 p.m.

During this presentation, attendees will: 

• Learn how the Washington State Board of Education has engaged students, families, educators, higher education, employers, and community partners to identify the knowledge and skills students need to succeed after high school—and where Washington’s current graduation framework falls short. 

• Explore the FutureReady proposal, including potential changes to graduation requirements designed to create more flexible, relevant, and meaningful learning experiences while maintaining strong academic expectations. 

• Understand the implementation and decision-making process ahead, including how the Board is identifying supports schools will need and the timeline for refining recommendations to prepare a proposal for consideration during the 2027 legislative session. 

The proposal is designed to create graduation requirements that give every student the opportunity to explore their interests, build real-world skills, and prepare for life after high school while supporting schools in offering relevant, authentic, and interdisciplinary learning opportunities. It also maintains strong academic expectations that keep multiple postsecondary options open as students’ goals evolve. 

While the proposal is still in development, the Board and Task Force have reached consensus on several important changes to current requirements and identified several topics that still require further exploration and discussion. Please note that these items are not finalized and the final recommendation may differ from what is included here.

Visit our website for more information on the Board’s proposal. 

• Give students more support in postsecondary planning by improving the High School and Beyond Plan, so they have more time and support to meaningfully explore interests, set goals, and prepare for life after high school.

• Strengthen math preparation by requiring all students to complete coursework that prepares them with real-world quantitative skills, while the default math sequence is aligned with college admissions expectations. Additionally, most students would be expected to take a senior year quantitative course to meet their Personalized Pathway Requirement (PPR). 

• Streamline the graduation framework by removing graduation pathways because we have heard from students, families, and communities that they are not meaningful and can be an administrative hurdle that does not effectively check whether a student has the knowledge needed to succeed after graduation.  

• Shift some core requirements into an expanded Personalized Pathway requirement so students have more flexibility to tailor coursework to their interests and postsecondary goals without lowering academic expectations. Under the proposal, PPR courses are ones that most students are expected to take, but may be substituted on an individual student basis in alignment with preparation for a clear postsecondary plan documented in the High School and Beyond Plan and in consultation with a student's family and educators. 

• Integrate opportunities for instruction in financial education and life skills into the credit framework. This responds to one of the most common requests from students and families who have consistently asked for more opportunities to learn financial education and life skills. Further discussion is required to determine whether this would be included as a course/content within the core subject requirement or as a PPR. 

• Create a consistent statewide policy that expands flexible credit options to all students, including competency-based crediting, physical education excusals tied to athletic participation, and multilingual learner world language credit.  

• Allow for better recognition of student learning in career connected learning opportunities by changing the state’s career technical education (CTE) course equivalency policy to allow a student to earn two credits when a course allows a student to demonstrate competency in both the CTE standards and academic course standards. 

Several important questions remain under discussion, including how to strengthen the High School and Beyond Plan process, whether FAFSA/WASFA completion should be required for graduation, and how subjects such as health, physical education, arts, and CTE should fit within the graduation framework.