Being a parent is nonstop hard work, making it challenging to stay on top of news that impacts families in Washington state. This Hits Home is your weekly hit of news, commentary, and, occasionally, opinion. Want to have a say? Look for the “Take action” prompts. Here’s the update for the week of July 6-12.
WA schools chief wants seniors to graduate with real life skills
Filling out a FAFSA. Building a resume. Registering to vote. Understanding how credit card interest actually works. These are the kinds of tasks that shape a young adult’s first few years out of high school. Yet, in Washington, whether a teen leaves school with the knowledge required to handle them comes down to luck of the draw — which teacher they had, which parent had the time, which elective happened to be available.
State Superintendent Chris Reykdal has a proposal to change all that. This week he proposed a solution: a year-long Senior Year Postsecondary Launch Course to be taken by every graduating senior, timed to match whatever they’re actually facing that semester. Rather than creating an entirely new credit requirement, Reykdal’s plan combines the state’s existing half-credit civics course with a new half-credit in financial literacy and postsecondary readiness — for a total of 1 full credit, taught with an eye toward timing. Financial aid lessons, for instance, would land in the fall, just as seniors looking at college applications and hunting for scholarships. By the end of the course, students would have:
- Completed their High School and Beyond Plan
- Built an actual resume
- Registered or pre-registered to vote
- Submitted at least one application — to a job, a college, or the military
- Applied for financial aid
“Students are graduating from the K–12 system without consistent access to the tools needed to support their independence,” Reykdal said in a written statement on July 7. “Young people are taking on loans and credit card debt without knowledge of the implications. They don’t always know what to add to their resume, or how to register to vote. We can fix that.” Read the full story…