Since 2019, the Washington State Board of Education has engaged stakeholders in creating a vision for mastery-based learning (MBL) that sparked pilot programs, outcome evaluations, and a push for legislative action. By decoupling how students earn high school credits from the amount of time spent in classroom seats, the board also sought to boost the value of high school diplomas. Other state boards can take a page from Washington’s playbook to create conditions that will prepare students for life after high school.

The urgency for remaking high school extends beyond Washington state. Despite the fact that 87 percent of US students in 2021–22 earned high school diplomas within four years of starting ninth grade, there are signs that the standard diploma is not sufficiently equipping students for life after graduation.[1] Only 24 percent of 12th grade students are proficient in mathematics and 37 percent in reading, according to data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress. Average ACT composite scores reached their lowest average of the past decade in 2021, even as there was grade inflation over the same period.[2]

Nearly half of adults, parents, and employers surveyed in 2019 by the Kauffman Founda­tion perceive high school graduates as less prepared to join the workforce than their parents’ or grandparents’ generations, and they say real-world exposure to internships, entrepreneurial skills, and financial literacy is more important than test scores and GPAs.[3]

Creating a Statewide Vision

In 2019, the Washington legislature tasked the state board with convening a work group to identify the barriers to MBL.[4] Comprising students, high school staff, state board members, district leaders, and legisla­tors, the work group recommended ways the state could increase student access to MBL.

As a first step, the work group recommended creating a profile of a graduate to “create more cohesion in our system by actively seek­ing to include families and communities in the development of a vision for our education system . . . to create buy-in from all Washingtonians.”[5]

In 2021, the state legislature directed the MBL work group to develop the Washington Profile of a Graduate (see figure).

The state board sought viewpoints from students and families who had been under­served by the state education system. It adminis­tered surveys throughout 2021 and worked with state associations and consulting firms focused on promoting racial equity to con­duct listening sessions and affinity groups with students and families of color across the state.[6] This feedback helped the state board identify skills to include in the profile and provided a roadmap for how to implement the profile.

The resulting profile encouraged schools to “explicitly think about where they want stu­dents to build out transferable skills across the whole K-12 curriculum,” said Alissa Muller, the board’s policy director.

Piloting Mastery-Based Learning

With support from the Office of the Superin­tendent of Public Instruction and the Profes­sional Educator Standards Board, the state board in 2021 launched the Mastery-Based Learning Collaborative to expand schools’ ability to deliver mastery-based learning instruction that is culturally responsive and sustaining. The collaborative aims to showcase effective prac­tices, develop tools for educators, and provide professional learning to member schools. Forty-seven schools across two cohorts have participated in the collaborative to date. Each school received a planning grant and additional money over two years for professional development, materials and equipment, and compensating staff for work done outside regular work hours.

The goal of the pilot is to document the outcomes of each cohort, which in turn will inform state policymaking. An evaluation by the nonprofit Aurora Institute found that half of surveyed teachers and leaders in the cohorts felt prepared to implement MBL and cultur­ally responsive instruction after the two-year pilot, but the percentage expressing confidence increased over the period.[7]

Findings from this evaluation were presented to the state board during its October 2024 meet­ing, along with recommendations for identifying a school’s level of implementation, expanding professional development, communicating the initiative’s goals to stakeholders, and helping schools sustain changes to instruction after funding from the collaborative ends. These rec­ommendations were aligned with Senate Bill 5189 (2025), which seeks expanded support for schools implementing mastery-based learning and development of state competencies aligned with state learning standards.[8]

The state board incorporated the recommen­dations into its budget request for the next fiscal year. “The board re­mains committed to maintaining the project’s structure,” said Randy Spaulding, executive director of the Washington state board, and “hopes to continue supporting the second cohort of pilot schools, ongoing research, and communications.”

Aligning Graduation Requirements

In December 2022, the state board approved recommendations to the legislature to align graduation requirements with the profile.[9] The board launched a multiyear initiative called FutureReady, which aims to “empower students with the essential knowledge and skills they need to thrive in a changing world, while streamlining the graduation requirements framework to promote accessibility and equity” through updated graduation requirements.[10] Following the development of these requirements with a cross-sector task force, the proposal will go through community feedback sessions before being proposed to the legislature.

As part of its proposals for the 2025 legis­lative session, the state board requested funding for FutureReady that would support a task force, subcom­mittees, and community liaisons to ensure comprehensive stakeholder input on existing graduation requirements, particularly from historically underserved groups.

Lessons Learned

Boosting the value of a high school diploma is not only a matter of tweaking graduation requirements; it requires a statewide vision and plan for changing systems. As the work of the Washington state board attests, this process takes years of thoughtful planning, stakeholder engagement, and evaluation of implementation.

The process of aligning graduation require­ments with the Profile of a Graduate and the work of the Mastery-Based Learning Collaborative generated valuable insights, Spaulding said. Notably, helping schools plan for sustainability has been a challenge. To help schools create a cohesive vision to guide implementation, department staff provided more information to its second cohort during and after the application process to ensure that the schools were better prepared for the complexity and depth of MBL implementation.

A similar difficulty involved outreach to fam­ilies. “Schools wanted to figure out how to fully implement MBL before they shared things with families,” Muller said. “This led to some misunderstandings and communica­tion challenges.” To address the disconnect, schools were encouraged to draw families into the process earlier so they could learn how MBL would change grading, curricula, and the student experience.

Additionally, accountability systems, curric­ulum, and school days have been designed to support seat-time requirements. “The systems we have in place are not conducive to implementing MBL,” Spaulding said. Nor do most teacher preparations programs teach practic­es essential to MBL, which inevitably slows implementation as teachers learn new skills.

Despite these challenges, the incorpo­ration of culturally responsive teaching methods has had a significant impact among students and communities. Leaders have observed student engagement increasing across the board, including for historically marginalized students.

[1] National Center for Education Statistics, “High School Graduation Rates,” in Condition of Education (US Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, May 2024); US Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 2019.

[2] Edgar I. Sanchez, “Evidence of Grade Inflation Since 2010 in High School English, Mathematics, Social Studies, and Science Courses,” research report (ACT, August 2023).

[3] Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, “Visions of the Future,” research findings (2019).

[4] State of Washington, 66th Legislature, Chapter 252, 2019 Regular Session, High School Graduation Requirements.

[5] Mastery-Based Learning Work Group, “Mastery-Based Learning in Washington State: 2020 Report” (Washington State Board of Education, 2020).

[6] Mastery-Based Learning Work Group, “Mastery-Based Learning in Washington State: 2021 Report” (Washington State Board of Education, December 10, 2021).

[7] Eliot Levine, “Mastery-Based Learning Collaborative Evaluation Report: Cohort 1, Year 3” (Aurora Institute, August 2024).

[8] Washington State Legislature, 69th Legislature, Senate Bill 5189, An Act Relating to Supporting the Implementation of Competency-Based Education, 2025 Regular Session.

[9] Washington State Board of Education, “Alignment of Graduation Requirements with the Profile of a Graduate Report,” report, December Virtual Meeting, December 1, 2022.

[10] Washington State Board of Education, “FutureReady,” web page.