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:
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.
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.
Beginning with the 2022 calendar year, each school director must take two courses, the introduction plus an elective, during their current term of office. Newly elected or appointed directors must meet the requirement within two years of taking office. The two courses are:
Initial Requirement
Two 2.5-hour trainings (5 hours total)
In subsequent terms of office after completing the initial requirement, directors will need to take one elective course per term.
Continuing Requirement
One 2.5-hour training
The variety of courses and topics will grow as WSSDA is continually developing curriculum. At present, WSSDA has developed:
Intro:
Electives:
To see what’s available at any given time, visit the calendar at wssda.org/trainings