Educational Equity Trainings

Washington state’s 1,477 school directors oversee the education of more than 1.1 million K-12 students. That comes with a tremendous responsibility to ensure that our public education system serves all students and their families.

To help directors shoulder that responsibility, WSSDA offers courses that give school directors an even deeper appreciation of:

their positions within the American electoral and legal systems
the strengths and challenges faced by students and families of different backgrounds
their responsibilities as leaders of their community and in the public education system
how our own beliefs and actions can impact the students we serve
and other impactful learnings

With new or deepened perspectives, school directors will gain the background knowledge necessary to support the delivery of programs and services that benefit every corner of their school districts. The courses also satisfy requirements outlined in Washington Senate Bill 5044, which became law in July 2021.

Click the image above to see a visualization or here to download the PDF.

How it Works

To meet legislated requirements, directors need to take two courses early in their service, then one course per subsequent term of office. We refer to that as “initial” professional development and “continuing” professional development.

Initial Requirement

5 hours
(Two trainings)

Beginning with the 2022 calendar year, each school director must take any two of WSSDA’s educational equity courses. Newly elected or appointed directors must meet the initial professional development requirement within two years of taking office.

Continuing Requirement

2.5-hours
(One training)

In subsequent terms of office after completing the initial professional development requirement, directors will need to take one elective course per term.

The Courses

The variety of courses and topics will grow as WSSDA is continually developing curriculum. The courses are offered in-person and virtually. To see what’s available at any given time, visit the calendar at wssda.org/trainings. At present, WSSDA has developed:

Frequently Asked Questions

What is this training?

WSSDA offers professional development opportunities in many areas of educational leadership for Washington state’s school directors. Some of these opportunities are designed to be taken by individual school directors and some are designed for participation by board-superintendent teams. The OnBoard Professional Learning System provides interactive learning at the board level focusing on visionary leadership, effective governance, and strategic advocacy. The Commitment to Educational Equity series is just one part of the entire OnBoard system. This graphic shows the breadth of topics covered by OnBoard.

Is this training required and who made it a requirement?

In July 2021, the Washington state Legislature passed Senate Bill 5044 into law, requiring cultural competency, diversity, equity, and inclusion training for Washington state’s K-12 public school educators, district leaders, and school directors. WSSDA is named within the law as responsible for identifying relevant standards and developing and delivering professional development in those topics for school directors. The Washington Professional Educator Standards Board (PESB) is responsible for development of the training for educators. The requirements of ESSB 5044 are contained in various RCWs, including several related to school directors. They include:

An overview of WSSDA’s role related to standards and the requirement to collaborate with PESB: RCW 28A.345.115: School director governance—Cultural competency, diversity, equity, and inclusion—Report.
Development and delivery of the training program: RCW 28A.345.120: School director governance—Cultural competency, diversity, equity, and inclusion—Training programs.
The requirement of school directors to complete the “governance training program”: RCW 28A.343.100: Governance training program.
Definitions of cultural competency, diversity, equity, inclusion: RCW 28A.415.443: Definitions.

Why is WSSDA providing the training?

WSSDA is named within the law as responsible for identifying standards and developing and delivering the training for school directors. The Washington Professional Educator Standards Board (PESB) is responsible for development of the training for educators, also specified in the law.

What topics are included?

Senate Bill 5044 specifies several topic areas for required training for school directors, including cultural competency, diversity, equity, and inclusion.

What's the requirement and how much time will it take?

Initial Professional Development
Beginning with the 2022 calendar year, school directors must complete the program once per term of elected office, except that newly elected directors must complete it within two years of election. The initial requirements include a minimum of two 2.5-hour trainings (5 hours total) that must include the introductory course plus one additional elective course.

Continuing Professional Development After completing the initial training requirement of 5 hours, in subsequent terms of office, the ongoing legislative requirement is to take a minimum of one 2.5 hour course of their choice per term.

See available trainings at wssda.org/training

How do I access the equity training?

School directors can access this training to expand their skills and understanding while meeting the state requirements through in-person, interactive professional development opportunities offered around the state in 2021 and beyond. The training is offered at WSSDA’s annual conference in November each year and in various regions across the state throughout the year.

I don’t live in an area where it is easy to access training. How can I fulfill the requirement?

Multiple opportunities are offered by WSSDA in partnership with local school districts and regional Educational Service Districts to bring the trainings within reach of all 295 school districts. WSSDA is working to expand access as the program ramps up. If your region is interested in hosting a training, contact WSSDA for scheduling options. A minimum of 20 attendees is required to provide a high-quality experience.

Is it available virtually or on-demand as an asynchronous training?

Yes. WSSDA's virtual training puts professional development learning experiences at your fingertips. Both OnBoard trainings and Board Boot Camp are offered online. For more information, visit the schedule below.
Training and Learning Opportunities

What can I expect from the training?

Participants will delve into a wide variety of materials to gain background knowledge, engage in conversations around the curriculum, and complete some guided activities together. Because the trainings are interactive, we require a minimum of 20 people to ensure a rich experience. As a result, participants should be able to leave with an expanded understanding of educational equity.

Who are the trainers?

WSSDA has a group of trainers with experience serving as school directors and school leaders in Washington state. They work in teams to provide this and other OnBoard training.

12. We are already doing work in our district and at the board level around equity issues, or we’ve taken equity trainings from other sources, such as our ESD or another facilitator. Can these – or a pre-conference workshop – substitute for the requirements?

The work school directors and superintendents engage in to understand and elevate educational equity in their own districts is important and has tremendous value for identifying how to close opportunity gaps and provide what each student needs to be successful. However, previous WSSDA trainings or those offered by Educational Service Districts or other sources do not meet the requirements outlined in the RCWs. The unique and research-based design of the OnBoard Professional Learning system will likely compliment and amplify the benefits of any training you’ve already taken by expanding your personal thinking about issues of equity, diversity, and inclusion.