Equipping Students for the Future: Washington Learning Standards Updates Open for Public Comment

The world has changed significantly over the past decade, and so have the ways students learn, engage, and communicate. As educators work to keep pace with these changes, the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) is seeking feedback on the updated learning standards to ensure that classroom instruction remains current and relevant to all students. 

Learning standards define what students must know and be able to do at each grade level. As required by state law (RCW 28A.655.070), OSPI is responsible for creating, maintaining, and periodically reviewing these standards to keep them relevant. 

Since the English language arts (ELA), mathematics, and science standards were last updated over a decade ago, revisions are necessary to ensure that they remain current. OSPI’s updates are built upon the foundational Common Core State Standards for ELA and mathematics, and the Next Generation Science Standards. 

“The standards are more rigorous and relevant at the same time because they better reflect the actual complexity of challenges that students are facing,” said Maja Wilson, ELA Assessment Specialist at OSPI. “We also wanted to make sure that the revised standards reflected the most current research in literacy, education, and communication.”  

Over the past two years, OSPI has worked closely with educational partners to develop learning standards that are rigorous, age appropriate, inclusive, and culturally responsive. OSPI has also screened the revised standards for bias and equity, as required by the 2024 Legislature in Senate Bill 5462. 

“We’re being responsive to students in our classrooms to make sure they’re getting what they need,” said Johanna Brown, Associate Director of Secondary Science at OSPI. “We have big goals to ensure students have access to meaningful and contextualized learning while enabling educators to make the best decisions for the students directly in front of them.” 

Drafts of the learning standards for ELA, mathematics, and science are available for public comment from August 16 through September 27, before they are finalized. Community members from across Washington state are encouraged to review the drafts and then provide their comments to OSPI through an online survey. 

In addition to the survey, OSPI hosted two public webinars that provided an overview of the revision process, a preview of the updates to the standards, and the timeline for implementation.  

As part of these updates, OSPI is integrating media literacy into the ELA revisions—making Washington one of the few states to address key aspects of media literacy in the standards. Additionally, updates are also being made to integrate data science into math and climate science into the science standards. 

These changes aim to make classroom learning more relevant for the 21st century while also clarifying and simplifying language, as requested by educators in a survey done by OSPI in 2023. The updates also emphasize the interconnectedness of knowledge across grade levels to support student learning. 

“For example, we’re working to clarify what it means for students to be fluent in mathematics,” said Laura Grant, Associate Director of Elementary Mathematics at OSPI. “We’re now using the language ‘flexibly, efficiently, and accurately’ to let people know there's not just one way to solve problems, but we want to encourage flexible thinking and efficiency.” 

After the public comment period ends, all feedback will be reviewed by OSPI subject matter experts and incorporated into final revisions of the documents. In December 2024, State Superintendent Chris Reykdal will review and adopt the final drafts of the updated standards.  

OSPI will offer professional development and resources for teachers to understand the new standards before they’re implemented in schools starting in fall 2026. Additionally, OSPI will distribute family/caregiver guides to help parents and families understand the new standards and partner with educators to support their child’s learning in the classroom during the transition. 

“We will be getting teacher feedback throughout this whole process,” said Brown. “We really want to be responsive and proactive to teacher needs, so we're really being mindful about how we support school districts, both large and small.” 

For More Information 

• Learning Standards Public Comment (OSPI webpage) 
• Project to Update Washington’s Learning Standards Focuses on Preparing Students for the Future (March 2024) 
• OSPI Explains: What Are State Learning Standards, and How Are They Maintained? (May 2023) 
• Washington State Learning Standards Review (OSPI webpage)