(1) The office of the superintendent of public instruction shall:

(a) Identify criteria for grants and evaluate proposals for funding in consultation with the workforce training and education coordinating board;

(b) Develop and monitor requirements for grant recipients to:

(i) Identify students who both fail the Washington assessment of student learning and drop out of school;

(ii) Identify their own strengths and gaps in services provided to youth;

(iii) Set their own local goals for program outcomes;

(iv) Use research-based and emerging best practices that lead to positive outcomes in implementing the building bridges program; and

(v) Coordinate an outreach campaign to bring public and private organizations together and to provide information about the building bridges program to the local community;

(c) In setting the requirements under (b) of this subsection, encourage creativity and provide for flexibility in implementing the local building bridges program;

(d) Identify and disseminate successful practices;

(e) Develop requirements for grant recipients to collect and report data, including, but not limited to:

(i) The number of and demographics of students served including, but not limited to, information regarding a student's race and ethnicity, a student's household income, a student's housing status, whether a student is a foster youth or youth involved in the juvenile justice system, whether a student is disabled, and the primary language spoken at a student's home;

(ii) Washington assessment of student learning scores;

(iii) Dropout rates;

(iv) On-time graduation rates;

(v) Extended graduation rates;

(vi) Credentials obtained;

(vii) Absenteeism rates;

(viii) Truancy rates; and

(ix) Credit retrieval;

(f) Contract with a third party to evaluate the infrastructure and implementation of the partnership including the leveraging of outside resources that relate to the goal of the partnership. The third-party contractor shall also evaluate the performance and effectiveness of the partnerships relative to the type of entity, as identified in RCW 28A.175.045, serving as the lead agency for the partnership; and

(g) Report to the legislature by December 1, 2008.

(2) In performing its duties under this section, the office of the superintendent of public instruction is encouraged to consult with the work group identified in *RCW 28A.175.075.

(3) In selecting recipients for grant funds appropriated under RCW 28A.175.135, the office of the superintendent of public instruction shall use a streamlined and expedited application and review process for those programs that have already proven to be successful in dropout prevention.

*Reviser's note: RCW 28A.175.075 was amended by 2020 c 114 § 2, renaming the "building bridges work group" to the "graduation: a team effort partnership advisory committee."

Intent—Findings—2007 c 408: See note following RCW 28A.175.025.