Washington State has not yet passed legislation directly limiting or reforming developmental education as has occurred in other states; however, there are certainly various policies and initiatives related to developmental education/college-readiness. A sampling include:

• The Student Completion Initiative(funded by the Gates Foundation), which funded three projects: Open Course Library, Rethinking Pre-College Math, and I-BEST developmental education models. (The I-BEST model–Integrated Basic Education and Skills Training–is a recognized program that uses learning communities combining professional and technical training with adult basic education or developmental education to move students more quickly to certificate or degree completion.)
• The Student Achievement Initiative, a performance-based funding mechanism, which includes completion of developmental course work as one of the metrics for which colleges may receive “incentive” funding.
• SBAC Placement Agreement (see previous WA state Policy posting for more info.): A proposal for institutions of higher education in WA state to adopt the Smarter Balanced assessment (CCSS) for 11th graders in lieu of other placement methods for recent high school graduates. (Students who score 3 or 4 out of 4 would be considered college-level placement; students who score 1 or 2 would be “remediated” at the high school, though only those who score at the lowest level would be subject to retesting or additional placement info. before being considered college-ready.)

TheCollege Readiness Projectinstituted by the State Board of Community and Technical Colleges in WA has developed/is developing a body of research and best practices related to student success and pre-college coursework. Accelerated Learning programs and pilots are fairly widespread in the state, but are not mandated.