Colorado labors under a conundrum: the state's populace is the most educated in the country, with one-third holding college degrees and two-thirds having some higher education. Yet it ranks 27th for college completions, with just 20 percent of the state's ninth-graders receiving a degree. (The explanation for this discrepancy is of course Colorado's success in attracting well-educated folks from other places.) This week, Governor Bill Owens announced a new initiative to boost the college matriculation rate among Colorado students. The effort features intensive counseling in schools, a public-awareness campaign, and a new website, www.collegeincolorado.org. Owens told a crowd of 700 students that curricular changes are also in order, with "a rigorous pre-college curriculum" becoming "the default position" of K-12 instruction, the exact language used in Fordham's recent study of state math standards and along the lines of what the American Diploma Project recommended. New regulations will also require parents to opt their child out of such a high-school curriculum if they wish, rather than electing it. Owens has the balance exactly right: pushing ill-prepared kids into higher education is a recipe for heartbreak and wasted money. Building a K-12 system that develops in young people the knowledge and skills necessary for success in college is the fundamental task, while public relations efforts are important but, finally, secondary considerations.
"State plan to prod students," by Dave Curtin, Denver Post, January 19, 2005
"Easing Colorado's education paradox," Denver Post, January 19, 2005
"Higher ed five-year plan," by John Ensslin, Rocky Mountain News, January 19, 2005