Bill would address postsecondary and career readiness

Collaboration between the state Board of Education and postsecondary educational institutions would be facilitated by a bill heard by the Education Committee Jan. 20.

Cedar Rapids Sen. Kate Sullivan introduced LB101, which would require the Coordinating Commission for Postsecondary Education to identify an assessment system to indicate students’ academic preparedness for postsecondary college and career readiness beginning with the 2016-17 school year.

Sullivan said that the need for remedial education at the postsecondary level currently is very high.

“[This bill] would identify a way to ensure our children are making progress that will prepare them for postsecondary education or a future career,” she said. “We want to provide assurances that Nebraska’s students are adequately prepared to receive a postsecondary education or are career ready.”

Sullivan said that it might be possible to use an already existing assessment, but that ultimately the assessment must consist of multiple administrations so that student progress may be adequately measured.

Accelerate Nebraska President Greg Adams spoke in favor of the bill, saying that it represents a necessary refinement in the state’s assessment and accountability system.

“If [postsecondary schools] say that this is the assessment mechanism we’re going to use for placement, they need to communicate that with high schools,” he said. “If I were a teacher in a K-12 system and these were my students [requiring remediation], I’d want to know where the weakness is so that I could do something about it.”

Mike Baumgartner, executive director of the Coordinating Commission for Postsecondary Education, also supported the bill. He said that ensuring students are adequately prepared in high school will benefit them for years to come.

“We need to address the learning gaps and utilize tools and strategies to address those gaps,” Baumgartner said. “Without the need for remediation at the postsecondary level, students are more likely to finish quicker, with less debt and enter the workforce more quickly.”

No one testified in opposition to the bill and the committee took no immediate action on it.