WSD25-01 — High Performing Boards
California’s High Performing Board designation is voluntary, but its five criteria provide one of the clearest board-level scorecards in the state: performance, approved plans, training investment, youth spending, and business-services governance.
Jan. 23, 2026
Active
Mar. 2 · closed
Optional certification
Source + trust record
Source checked as of September 18, 2026. Primary authority: EDD Active Directives · WSD25-01.
Check result: WSD25-01 remains active California guidance for the voluntary High Performing Board designation. Its criteria span performance, approved planning, training investment, youth expenditure compliance, and business-services governance. Future application cycles may specify different evidence years or deadlines, so boards should use the active directive and current EDD instructions rather than carrying an older application date forward. This AI-assisted brief does not receive human legal or compliance review. Official sources control.
The bottom line
The application window is closed; the scorecard is still useful.
WSD25-01 does not create a new mandatory certification for Local Boards. It defines the evidence a board must show if it wants High Performing Board status. Even boards that do not apply can use the five criteria as a standing governance dashboard.
Regular Local Board certification/recertification under WIOA is separate. High Performing Board status is an additional voluntary designation.
The five certification tests
A cross-functional board scorecard.
| Criterion | What it tests |
|---|---|
| 1 · Successful performance | Specified WIOA Adult, DW, and Youth Individual Indicator Scores meet the required threshold. |
| 2 · Approved plans | Regional and Local Plans meet WIOA and California requirements. |
| 3 · Training investment | Compliance with California’s Adult/DW training expenditure requirement, including allowable leveraged-resource credit. |
| 4 · Youth expenditures | OSY and work-experience expenditure requirements are met, subject to approved waiver rules where applicable. |
| 5 · Business services plan | Employer/labor partnership, electronic job matching, and a business representative subcommittee or workgroup. |
Why this is useful beyond the designation
Five policies become one governance conversation.
The framework forces a board to look across program performance, strategic planning, fiscal choices, youth compliance, and employer engagement at the same time. That makes it useful for executive committees, board retreats, annual self-assessment, and risk review.
Operational considerations for WDBs
Keep the evidence current even between application rounds.
Performance scores, plan approvals, training-spend calculations, youth expenditure reports, and business-services governance documents should live together.
The certification test is tied to the specified Individual Indicator Scores.
Do not wait until certification season to discover a calculation or documentation problem.
OSY and work-experience requirements are separate operating measures.
The criterion is about board infrastructure and employer/labor integration, not just service counts.
Implementation traps
They are separate processes.
Future application rounds may specify different program-year evidence.
The designation is evidence-based and tied to discrete policy criteria.
Source authority
The active directive controls.
WSD25-01 — High Performing Boards
EDD Active Workforce Services Directives
The standing-scorecard use described here is a practical governance recommendation, not an additional certification requirement.
Rewritten in the Wonkery Way format with a clearer distinction between voluntary High Performing Board designation and ordinary board recertification.