Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the School Performance Framework topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Commission reviews attendance, dual-credit and graduation metrics as it considers framework revisions
Summary
Commission staff presented measures used in the academic performance framework — regular attendance, ninth-graders-on-track, dual credit and 4‑year graduation rate — and discussed potential revisions including adding a 5‑year graduation measure and grade‑level approaches to dual-credit measurement.
Commission staff reviewed school-quality and student-success indicators used to evaluate charter schools and told the Washington State Charter School Commission that these measures will factor into forthcoming revisions to the commission’s academic performance framework.
Staff explained the measures under discussion: regular attendance (defined as students attending 90% or more school days), ninth-graders-on-track (first-time ninth-graders earning all attempted credits), dual-credit participation (students in grades 9–12 completing dual-credit courses or programs such as Running Start or college-in-the-classroom) and the four-year graduation rate. A presenter noted that the data shown were from the 2024–25 school year and are compared against assigned-school comparisons to determine whether schools meet or exceed commission standards. "All of these data typically get released in January of a given school year," staff said, explaining the lag between the school year and the data the commission evaluates.
The discussion highlighted variation across charter high schools. Some schools reported high dual-credit participation among upper grades while showing lower overall measures when aggregated across all high-school grades; staff and commissioners debated whether the commission should evaluate dual-credit by grade band (for example focusing on 11th–12th grades) or maintain the current grade-span approach. Staff said the performance-committee process will continue, and added that a 5‑year graduation measure is being considered to recognize students who require more than four years to complete high school credits.
Commissioners raised implementation and equity concerns, including resource and staffing barriers that can limit a small school’s ability to offer dual-credit or CTE options and whether rural or small programs are being disadvantaged by the current measure. The commission directed staff and the performance committee to continue the framework revision process and to involve school leaders in designing measures that balance accountability with programmatic diversity.
Next steps: performance committee will lead the academic performance framework revision with further discussion expected in committee and at future commission meetings; staff will bring proposals for how to measure dual-credit and graduation rates in ways that reflect school program models and equity considerations.
(All statements drawn from the commission meeting record and staff presentation on Feb. 19, 2026.)
