Public education leaders in Utah are forging ahead with a revamp of education that will focus on competencies as well as seat time, but they need the cooperation of higher education officials to ensure there is no disconnect between the two levels of education.
Kim Burningham, chairman of the Utah Board of Education and an ex- officio member of the Utah Board of Regents, told the regents Friday that the extensive changes in public education, including more stringent graduation requirements, will impact higher education, and more “meshing” is needed to ensure a “seamless system.”
“We want to prepare our students to leave high school ready to do something more,” said State Superintendent for Public Instruction Steve Laing. And that’s the point at which the state’s postsecondary program takes over.
With higher graduation standards, there will be a critical need for ways to intervene in behalf of students who fall short, he said, including money to fund those interventions. The public system has to meet the needs of many students, including those whose future plans don’t include college, he said.
Different approaches to grading students under the competency concept could deprive colleges and universities of historic ways to gauge college readiness, some regents suggested. Laing said that norm- based tests such as the Stanford Achievement Test that compares Utah students with others across the nation will remain a way to make comparisons. College-bound students also will continue to take ACT and SAT exams that have long been accepted by higher education as a measure of readiness.
The public education leaders asked for more conversation with their higher education counterparts to help assure that the gap between the two arenas does not widen as public education approaches change.
When some regents posed questions about the concept of competency- based education, Burningham reminded them that public education is responding to “political forces” outside their system to make the changes. Those forces include Gov. Mike Leavitt, the Legislature and a business coalition Leavitt empaneled to look at education in Utah. The same pressures are likely to be brought to bear on higher education as well, he hinted.
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