High School and Beyond Plan

HSBP Updates: Stay Connected

Universal High School and Beyond Plan: Fall 2025 Launch Cohort

Grad Team Virtual Office Hours
Last Wednesday of each month through May 2025 | 2:30-3:30 pm 

Aligning HSBPs with IEPs

The Guidelines for Aligning HSBPs and IEP Transition Plans provide information so that students can have a comprehensive plan in place that addresses the student’s needs and meets all federal, state, and local requirements for graduation.

Contact Information

High School and Beyond Planning

High School and Beyond Plans (HSBP) are a state graduation requirement designed to support students’ career and college exploration throughout middle and high school.  The HSBP helps connect students’ career interests with their classes, and their classes with career training or college majors, helping them identify the steps needed to reach postsecondary goals.

Students start their plan in 7th grade by taking a career and interest/skill inventory and using the results to inform their 8th grade class choices. HSBPs are revised each year (7th-12th grade) to align with changing interests and educational or career goals.

Universal HSBP Platform

During the 2023 legislative session, Senate Bill (SB) 5243 concerning the HSBP was passed and signed into law. This bill requires OSPI to facilitate the transition to a statewide universal online HSBP platform that can be routinely updated and adapted to meet any new HSBP requirements. SchooLinks, Inc. was selected in May 2024 as the vendor to partner with OSPI. Our legislature’s vision is to ensure students in every district across Washington get equitable access to the same career and college exploration opportunities via the SchooLinks HSBP platform.

By spring of 2027, all districts with a middle and/or high school must transition to SchooLinks for their HSBP. OSPI is working with a variety of partners to prepare for the statewide rollout of the SchooLinks platform beginning in August, 2025. Current processes underway include but are not limited to:

  • Preparing to gather district feedback by January 22, 2025 via a new District Readiness Assessment Survey that will: 
    • support districts in understanding what preparation must occur before the transition to SchooLinks, and 
    • request districts’ commitment about when they will begin offering SchooLinks to their students and families (fall 2025 or fall 2026).
  • Determining what elements in the SchooLinks’ scope and sequence of available activities and processes must be completed per SB 5243 and will be standardized across the state to ensure an equitable student experience.
  • Developing resources and guidance to support districts with preparing for the platform implementation process.

Universal HSBP Platform: State Laws

  • RCW 28A.230.212 High School and Beyond Plans – Substantive requirements
  • RCW 28A.230.215 High School and Beyond Plans – Universal Online Platform

Platform Updates

HSBP Advisory Councils

OSPI's new HSBP Advisory Councils have been developed by interested districts, agencies, and community partners across Washington state. Over 100 council members will be meeting October 2024 – May 2025 to draft recommendations that will inform OSPI's development of guidance and support resources for statewide implementation of the universal HSBP platform. Current HSBP Advisory Councils include:

  • Career & College Readiness Curriculum Development
  • Professional Development & Training
  • Platform Implementation Planning
  • Technology & Student Data
  • Community-Based Organization Engagement

Regional Listen & Learn Sessions

OSPI hosted 11 Fall HSBP Listen and Learn sessions for staff, students, and families, and educational/community partners in September and October 2024. Available resources include:

SchooLinks Demonstration Webinars

  • Video recording of general platform overview (November, 2024)
  • Video recording of data/technical implementation presentation (December, 2024; link coming by January 3, 2025)
HSBP Resources

For District & School Leaders

For Students, Families, & School Staff

Universal HSBP Platform: Implementation Timeline

2024-2025

July – December 2024

  • July 2024, Select and notify HSBP Advisory Council Leaders and Members
  • August, Finalize contract negotiations with SchooLinks
  • September, Begin customization of SchooLinks platform to be Washington’s Universal HSBP platform
  • September - October, Regional Fall HSBP Listen & Learn stakeholder feedback sessions hosted by OSPI in partnership with each ESD
  • September 23, HSBP Advisory Council Fall Kickoff in Ellensburg, WA
  • October 1, Legislative Report #2 due to the legislature
  • November – December, Refine implementation plan and define phases of platform implementation
  • December, Data collection with SBE for potential 5th grade future expansion of the platform to 5th grade

January – August 2025

  • January, Legislature appropriated 2025-27 funds to impact level of platform launch 
  • February, Statewide communication regarding Phases of Implementation
  • March – August, Implementation preparation for data migration, training, professional development, platform installation

September 2025

  • Projected first launch of the Washington Universal HSBP platform (dependent on 2025-27 appropriated state funding)

2023-2024

June – December 2023

Request for Proposals (RFP)

  • June 6 – June 16,  Statewide HSBP Function Feedback Survey
  • June 23, Compile HSBP Function Feedback Survey data to inform development of Request for Proposals (RFP)
  • August 21, Approval of RFP
  • August 30, RFP Pre-bid conference for vendors
  • October 2, RFP responses due
  • October 10 - 20, Evaluate RFP responses
  • November, Analysis and Summary of RFP Evaluation Data
  • December, Identification of Preliminary Finalists

January – June 2024

  • January 1, Legislative Report #1 due
  • January 5 - 30, Develop Statewide Stakeholder Survey for vendor selection
  • February 5 - March 8, Statewide Stakeholder Survey
  • March 18 – 22, Preliminary Finalist Vendor Interviews
  • March 23 – April 28, Analysis of Preliminary Finalist and Stakeholder Survey Data
  • April 29, 2024, Announce SchooLinks as Apparent Successful Bidder
  • May – June, Initiate Contract Negotiations with Apparent Successful Bidder
  • June 10 – 25, HSBP Advisory Council orientation sessions and member application process
Universal Online HSBP Platform: Implementation Partners

External Team (Named or Referenced in ESSB 5243; see RCW 28A.230.215 (6))

Internal OSPI Team (listed by Department)

  • Career & Technical Education
  • Elementary School Counseling
  • Foster Care
  • Government Relations
  • Graduation and Pathway Preparation
  • Institutional Education Information
  • Learning Options
  • Migrant and Multilingual Education
  • Native Education
  • Operations Project Policy Strategy
  • Secondary Education Content
  • Special Education

Additional External Partners

Individual volunteers

Student Learning Plan

Student Learning Plans (SLP), as codified in RCW 28A.655.270, were repealed by the legislature in 2023 and are no longer required. Instead of completing a duplicative and separate process, the development of an HSBP beginning in 7th grade serves to ensure similar guidance and academic opportunities. Students who have not met standard on their middle school math or English Language Arts (ELA) assessments should be made aware of available academic supports for both subjects and must be enrolled in appropriate math courses for the 9th and 10th grades per RCW 28A.230.212 High School and Beyond Plans – Substantive requirements.