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Panel calls for sweeping reforms for schools

By Berny Morson, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published November 28, 2007 at 12:30 a.m.

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Gov. Bill Ritter's education panel suggested sweeping school reforms Tuesday, including new ways to pay teachers, different student achievement tests and more emphasis on preschool and kindergarten.

Members of the Governor's P-20 Education Co-ordinating Council steered clear of some of the proposals that have been floated in the legislature, such as beefing up high school graduation standards.

Instead, the council took a deeper look at the system. Members have the expertise that "gave us an opportunity to drill down" to the nitty-gritty level of education, Ritter said.

"That helps just when it comes to the kinds of detailed recommendations that we all look at and say, 'This could truly make a difference,' " Ritter said.

However, Ritter cautioned that the price tag of the proposals will limit implementation. Together, the items cost about $300 million per year, mostly for the expanded preschool and kindergarten programs.

The true total is far higher since the cost has not yet been estimated for some of the proposals, such as the teacher pay plan.

Ritter appointed the group in April. The name refers to the panel's scope: It is studying education from preschool through graduate school.

Naming a statewide panel of experts to coordinate education reform was a major plank in Ritter's 2006 election campaign.

The panel includes business leaders as well as educators. They were joined during work sessions by others, including a judge and a corrections official.

The proposal on salaries calls for school districts to experiment with systems that reward the most effective teachers. Initially, the state would allocate $10 million for pilot programs.

Implementing such a program in all the state's school districts would be far more costly, said Bruce Benson, a businessman who is one of three co-chairs of the P-20 Council. For example, Denver voters approved $25 million to implement a pay plan based on teacher evaluations.

The recommendation on testing would add exams early in the high school years that show whether a student is heading toward success on college entrance exams or needs extra help.

The current state achievement tests, administered in grades three through 10, do not predict how a student will do on the college entrance exam taken in the 11th grade.

The panel recommended phasing in full-day kindergarten for all students over several years. That way, districts will have time to line up additional classroom space, said Lt. Gov. Barbara O'Brien, a co-chair of the panel.

What's next

* Gov. Bill Ritter and his staff will work with legislators and agencies that administer public schools and higher education to implement some of the P-20 council's proposals.

* The council will make additional recommendations. Panel leaders will schedule additional meetings after the holidays.

* The State Board of Education and the state Department of Education are working on revisions of academic standards that could affect how some of the proposals are carried out.

Comments

  • November 29, 2007

    4:52 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    GrayOwl writes:

    Want to guess how the governor will act the second the teachers unions object in even the slightest way? Prediction: He'll be dancing to the music....