Here are links that will take you to the Washington State Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction and the documents that show the learning standards.

K-12 Common Core State Standards for Mathematics

K-12 Common Core Standards for English language arts & literacy

Next Generation Science Standards

Washington State K-12 Learning Standards for Social Studies

Social Emotional Learning (SEL)

Social Emotional Learning (SEL) is a process through which individuals build awareness and skills in managing emotions, setting goals, establishing relationships, and making responsible decisions that support success in school and in life. 

Washington SEL Framework

The Washington SEL Framework was developed by the SEL Advisory Committee under direction of SB 5082(opens in a new window), to promote and expand social emotional learning across Washington state.

Guiding principles, the essential elements are key implementation practices that lead to successful SEL implementation and sustainability. These components are critical to ensuring that SEL efforts in schools stay true to Washington State’s commitment.

Three Essential Elements

• Create the conditions to support student SEL through climate and culture.
• SEL requires collaboration among families, educators, community partners, and young people in its design and implementation. 
• Build adult capacity.

Four Guiding Principles

• Equity: Each child receives what they need to develop their full potential. 
• Culturally sustaining: Culture is viewed as a resource for learning, not a barrier.
• Universal design: Learning differences are planned for and accommodated. 
• Trauma-informed: Knowledge of the effects of trauma is integrated into policy and practice. 

Moses Lake School District

Second Step is the learning material abopted by the MLSD School Board to support K-5 students in meeting the Washington State SEL Standards and Benchmarks.

Link to K-12 Standards and Benchmarks 1 pager

Link to K-12 Social Emotional Learning Standards, Benchmarks and Indicators- Full Document

State Required Assessments

SBA- Smarter Balanced Assessment

The Smarter Balanced Assessment (SBA) replaced existing state tests in English and math for grades 3-8, 10 and 11. These assessments measure students’ learning of the state standards and will provide parents and teachers with better information to monitor student progress and help them be successful in their learning. Learn more about the Smarter Balanced assessments and parent guides.

WaKIDS

The Washington Kindergarten Inventory of Developing Skills (WaKIDS) is a transition process that helps to ensure a successful start to the K-12 experience and connect the key adults in a child’s life.  WaKIDS guides the classroom teachers in assessing kindergartners’ readiness in six areas:  social emotional, physical, language, cognitive, literacy and math.  The components of WaKIDS are:

1. Family connection welcomes families into the Washington K-12 system as partners in their child’s education.

2. Whole-child assessment helps kindergarten teachers learn about the skills and strengths of the children in their classrooms so they can meet the needs of each child.

3. Early learning collaboration aligns practices of early learning professionals and kindergarten teachers to support smooth transitions for children.

For additional information please watch this introduction video.

Classroom-Based Assessments

The State of Washington has developed assessments that can be used in the classroom throughout the school year by teachers to gauge student understanding of the learning standards in social studies, the arts, health, and physical education. Classroom-Based Assessments (CBAs) are built from the state’s learning standards. These assessments are given by the classroom teacher. Health and fitness standards and arts standards (visual arts, music, dance, and theater) are assessed at least once at every level (primary, middle, and high school) for all students taking these courses.

Parents and community members wishing more information about these assessments are encouraged to visit the state website.

Second Grade Reading Assessment

All second-graders in Washington are required to have their oral reading skills tested within the first six weeks of the school year. Scores are not reported to the state, but should be used by the teacher, school, and district to provide support for students who need help. Results must be available by fall parent-teacher conferences. For students whose skills are “substantially below grade level,” a plan must be created that involves the student, parents and school. Those students also must be tested one more time before the end of second grade.

For more information about the Second Grade Reading Assessment, please visit the OSPI website.

WA-AIM

The WA-Access to Instruction & Measurement (WA-AIM) is an alternate assessment aligned to the state standards for students with significant cognitive challenges. The WA-AIM will be used for federal and state accountability in grades 3-8 and 11.

Get more information about the WA-AIM.

WIDA

The WIDA Screener is used to determine initial eligibility for English language develpopment services. The WIDA Kindergarten Screener is a paper-based assessment.  In grades one through three, the assessment is paper-based for writing and online for listening, reading and speaking. In grades four through twelve this is an online assessment. WIDA assessments measure proficiency in the four language domains of reading, writing, listening, and speaking. This test is typically administered to potential English learners upon initial enrollment in a Washington school.

The annual WIDA ACCESS assessment is administered to all students who qualify for English language development (ELD) services through the WIDA screener placement test. The annual assessment measures students’ English language proficiency, both knowledge and skills, in reading, listening, writing, and speaking. Results from this test determine which students remain eligible to continue receiving ELD services.

Please see the state website for English Proficiency Assessments for more information about the WIDA Screener, Annual WIDA ACCESS or WIDA Alternate ACCESS.

Understanding the Smarter Balanced Asssessment

Understanding Student Scores

The Smarter Balanced report gives families information on how well their child performed on different sets of skills in each subject. Families can use this information to identify where their child is doing well and where they may need support or practice. This helps families better support learning at home. It can also help them start meaningful conversations with teachers, to set goals for each student’s areas of improvement and to identify resources and strategies that can be used at home and in school to help students make progress.

The Starting Smarter website from the Washington state Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) offers a visual guide that explains the main parts of the Family Report (also known as the Student Score Report). Parents can use drop-down menus for grade, subject, and score range to access information about the knowledge and skills represented by each student’s scores, along with some sample items from the Smarter Balanced assessments. There is also a section containing links to other resources designed for parents.

What does the Assessment Include?

The Smarter Balanced assessment tests students in English language arts and math for grades 3-8, and 10. These assessments are one measure of students’ progress toward college and career readiness in English language arts/literacy and math. These assessments are given at the end of the school year and consist of two parts:
1) a computer adaptive test and;
2) a performance task

Computer Adaptive Test (CAT)

The Smarter Balanced Assessment System includes computer adaptive tests that are customized to each student. During the test, the difficulty of questions changes based on student responses. In this way, adaptive tests provide more precise information about student achievement in less time than a “fixed-form” test in which all students see the same set of questions.

How the Smarter Balanced adaptive software works The adaptive software runs in the background while students complete the assessment. After each response, it selects the next question based on a number of criteria, including: the specifications from the test blueprint; the number of times a question is likely to be used (to prevent overexposure of questions); and previous responses from the student.

Performance Task (PT)

A question type designed to provide students with an opportunity to demonstrate their ability to apply their knowledge and higher-order thinking skills to explore and analyze a complex, real-world scenario. Students will respond to a prompt related to the topic. It is a required portion of the test needed to generate a score.