Setting a P-16 Agenda
Reflections From a State Leader
For those who have ever wondered why high school graduates struggle during their first year of college, or why new teachers have difficulty making the transition from university training programs to school classrooms, answers can be found in the less-than-systemic connections between and among public schools, colleges and universities, and the state-level agencies that represent them.
Some states have been working to align their precollegiate and higher education systems to promote greater student success, particularly at these transition points. This work constitutes what is called P-16 reform—with the P standing for preschool and the 16 for completion of some form of postsecondary education. P-16 work is collaborative among public schools and colleges and universities locally, and, at the state level, among state departments of education, community college systems, university systems, agencies that oversee teacher licensure and preschool programs, and, sometimes, business partners. At both the state and local levels, P-16 work is typically coordinated by a P-16 council. (Some states use a “P-20” label to signal that such collaboration can extend beyond the baccalaureate level.)
I have been involved at the university level with the state of Georgia’s pioneering P-16 council . As this was the nation’s first such state coordinating body, its history and development can offer useful insights about the role such councils play in their states’ overall reform efforts, as well as their operational strengths and potential weaknesses. Georgia’s experience also can shed light on the evolution of this growing national...
This article is available to subscribers only.
To keep reading this article and more, subscribe now or purchase this article.
Subscribe to Education Week and Save
Get a full year and save up to 45%!
Viewed
Emailed
Recommended
Commented
- Principal
- Partnership for Los Angeles Schools, Los Angeles, CA
- K-8 Principal
- EdVantages/Performance Academies, Detroit, MI
- Principals
- Prince George's County Public Schools, MD
- 2 Positions -Associate Superintendent and Chief Academic Officer, and Director of Human of Resources
- Washington County Public Schools, Hagerstown, MD
- Superintendent
- Pinellas County Schools, Pinellas County, FL
