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3 R's: readin', 'ritin' and reform

Ritter's P-20 panel sets off to retool education

Berny Morson, Rocky Mountain News

Published August 7, 2007 at midnight

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COLORADO SPRINGS - A school-reform panel appointed by Gov. Bill Ritter is looking at sweeping changes in how Colorado children are educated.

Those changes range from "early warning systems" to identify dropouts to more coordination among preschool, kindergarten and the upper grades.

"This is the most important thing we do," Ritter told the 30-member panel Monday, as it began its work.

Ritter announced the panel in April and named members in June after an intensive selection process. Members include educators and other interested citizens from around the state.

They are charged with studying education from preschool through Grade 20, which is college graduate. The P-20 Council has broken into five subgroups. They will study:

• Dropout prevention.

• The early years, from preschool through third grade.

• Teacher preparation.

• Data and accountability.

• Preparation for work or college.

Monday's meeting was a milestone for Ritter. School reform has been a priority since he began campaigning for governor, but he has repeatedly declined to discuss specifics pending recommendations from the P-20 Council.

His directives to the council were phrased as questions. He wants to know, for example, whether the state should have better alignment of academic standards from preschool to third grade, or whether statewide standards are needed for preschool teachers.

Also asked was whether the state should have different kinds of diplomas for students with different interests and who complete different combinations of courses.

Ritter says he hasn't endorsed any of these options.

Preschool and dropout prevention are clear priorities for the governor.

He again mentioned his goal of cutting the dropout rate in half during the next 10 years.

Preschool programs have been placed under Lt. Gov. Barbara O'Brien, who is also a co-chair of the P-20 Council and the chairwoman of the subgroup that will study preschool.

About 4,000 students are on waiting lists to get into public preschools. But that backlog should disappear during the coming year as a result of a bill approved by the legislature in the spring.

"That's the low-hanging fruit," O'Brien said.

More significant for the P-20 panel is the question of how preschools should be run academically.

The panel is unusual because it includes leaders from public schools and higher education, parts of state government that, in the past, have operated separately.

The idea is to get children off on the right foot at age 3 in hopes they will not drop out of high school and will continue on to college or some other advanced training, O'Brien said.

"They'll be having success instead of feeling like failures, like they can't do the work," O'Brien said of children who would attend the better-coordinated system.

Unlike other study groups, P-20 will not issue a single report then disband. It will continue to offer recommendations indefinitely to the governor and the legislature.

Excluded from the panel's work are questions about finance.

The group will have recommendations for legislation by November, O'Brien said.

What's next

• Small group meetings: Five subgroups of the P-20 Council will hold meetings to come up with recommendations for school improvement. They will report to the full council at meetings in the fall.

• November deadline: The council will adopt recommendations in November for action by the legislature when it convenes in January. The panel will make separate recommendations to the state Board of Education, which meets year-round and has authority over state academic standards and teacher licensing. Recommendations also could go to the Colorado Commission on Higher Education.

• New working group: Education Commissioner Dwight Jones and higher- education director David Skaggs will form a working group to discuss the transition from public school to college.

• Open meetings: All the council's meetings and the subgroup meetings will be open to the public and will be announced on the governor's Web site.

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