States

New England to Promote College Readiness

By Alyson Klein — May 02, 2006 3 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

Worried about the possible shrinkage of their educated workforces in coming decades, the New England states have joined together on a new initiative aimed at preparing more students to tackle college.

Governors of all six states in the region and public university officials have signed on to the goals embraced by the project, called College Ready New England. They include raising high school graduation rates, bolstering college readiness among high school graduates, and increasing college enrollment and college-completion rates. The New England Board of Higher Education, a Boston-based nonprofit the six states founded in the 1950s, is administering the program.

“This is a commitment on the part of six states to work as one,” said Stephen J. Reno, the chancellor of the University System of New Hampshire. “We’re holding each others’ feet to the fire.”

The initiative is part of a national trend aimed at aligning K-12 schools more closely with higher education to prepare students for the growing number of careers that require a bachelor’s or associate’s degree, said Michael K. Thomas, the director of College Ready New England. He said the program represents the first regional approach to those issues.

Vermont on April 19 became the first state to launch the program. The other five—Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island—will follow in coming months, Mr. Thomas said. New England’s population growth over the next decade is likely to be low or stagnant, according to Mr. Thomas. He said a higher percentage of students in the region will enter high school from racial- and ethnic-minority groups, who typically graduate from high school and college at lower rates than their peers.

The initiative will help states work together to keep New England economically competitive in the face of such demographic shifts, he said, by providing a forum to share resources, best practices, and research to increase the number of college graduates.

For example, states could use the project as a means to design outreach campaigns, such as television commercials touting the benefits of a higher education.

Mr. Thomas said each state will draft its own policies to meet the goals outlined by the initiative. Still, the project plans to release recommendations for states to consider, which could include requiring students to take a college-preparatory curriculum in order to graduate from high school and calling for 10th graders to take the PSAT exam.

Raising Awareness

States in the region have already begun to consider ways to implement the program. New Hampshire plans to expand a program called Project Mentor, in which college sophomores commit to spending three years serving as an academic role model for a middle school student.

Other policymakers hope the initiative will help them advance proposals already in the works. Gov. Jim Douglas of Vermont, a Republican, hopes to align it with a 15-year, $175 million state scholarship program that provides grants to Vermont students who go to college and spend the first three years of their careers in the state. If they leave before that time, they must repay the money.

Lawmakers generally favor the proposal, but some question Gov. Douglas’ plan to use money from the 1998 multistate legal settlement with the tobacco industry to pay for it, said state Rep. Timothy Jerman, a Democrat, who is working on the state’s version of College Ready New England.

Rep. Jerman said that whether or not Vermont chooses to enact the governor’s scholarship proposal, the regional initiative will help the state to raise awareness about the importance of going to college.

A version of this article appeared in the May 03, 2006 edition of Education Week as New England to Promote College Readiness

Events

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Professional Development Webinar
Inside PLCs: Proven Strategies from K-12 Leaders
Join an expert panel to explore strategies for building collaborative PLCs, overcoming common challenges, and using data effectively.
Content provided by Otus
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Science Webinar
Making Science Stick: The Engaging Power of Hands-On Learning
How can you make science class the highlight of your students’ day while
achieving learning outcomes? Find out in this session.
Content provided by LEGO Education
Teaching Profession Key Insights to Elevate and Inspire Today’s Teachers
Join this free half day virtual event to energize your teaching and cultivate a positive learning experience for students.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

States Oklahoma Takes Step to Require Parents to Provide Schools Proof of Citizenship
Leaders in at least three states have made efforts to collect data on undocumented students, or outright ban them.
4 min read
State Superintendent Ryan Walters speaks to members of the State Board of Education during a meeting, Aug. 24, 2023, in Oklahoma City, Okla.
State Superintendent Ryan Walters speaks to members of the State Board of Education during a meeting, Aug. 24, 2023, in Oklahoma City, Okla. On Jan. 28, the state board unanimously approved a proposed rule to require schools to collect students' immigration status information.
Daniel Shular/Tulsa World via AP
States Opinion The Age of 'Adulthood' Varies by State. This Matters for Your Students
States set different limits on when kids can do different things. What does this mean for education?
8 min read
The United States Capitol building as a bookcase filled with red, white, and blue policy books in a Washington DC landscape.
Luca D'Urbino for Education Week
States Which States Require the Most—and Least—Instructional Time? Find Out
There's no national policy dictating how much time students must attend classes each year. That leads to wide variation by state.
2 min read
Image of someone working on a calendar.
Chainarong Prasertthai/iStock/Getty
States More States Are Testing the Limits Around Religion in Public Schools
A wave of state policies mixing public education and religion are challenging the church-state divide in public schools.
4 min read
An empty classroom is shown at A.G. Hilliard Elementary School on Sept. 2, 2017, in Houston.
An empty classroom is shown at A.G. Hilliard Elementary School on Sept. 2, 2017, in Houston. Texas's state school board has approved a curriculum with Bible-infused lessons, the latest of a wave of state policies challenging the church-state divide in schools.
David J. Phillip/AP