[Vision2020] Here's a thought

[Ron Force]

http://www.macombdaily.com/cgi-bin/printme.pl

MSU prez: Michigan high school students unprepared for college

Simon advocates 3-year high schools to let top students enter college early
PUBLISHED: April 15, 2005

By Chad Selweski
Macomb Daily Staff Writer

Michigan State University President Lou Anna Simon said that the state's
high schools are not adequately preparing enough students for college
studies while, at the same time, they're holding back their top academic
performers who are ready for college at an early age.

Simon said that the K-12 school systems are not turning out enough
college-prepared students "in the numbers we need," but the common refrain
of inadequate funding is not to blame.

"Our per-pupil funding in Michigan is very competitive and has not had a
similar decline like with higher education going from, in earlier years, one
of the top in the country to near the bottom," the MSU president said in an
interview with editors and reporters at The Macomb Daily.

Simon advocates a "thinking-outside-the-box" concept that includes a 3-year
high school, which allows top-tier students to enter college a year early,
after their junior year.

Rather than spending resources on advanced courses and college courses
offered to high-achieving high school seniors, those students would be
allowed to enter college.

Then, Simon said, the high schools could focus more resources on the "kids
who need more time to achieve higher standards."