<html><head><style type="text/css"><!-- DIV {margin:0px;} --></style></head><body><div style="font-family:'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif;font-size:12pt;color:#000000;"><div></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; border-collapse: collapse; "><div>Ed board: Idaho grads needed</div><div>More educated 'widgets' must be produced at lower cost, ed board president Westerberg says</div><div>By William L. Spence </div><div>January 21, 2011</div><div><br></div><div>BOISE - The State Board of Education wants to double the percentage of young Idahoans earning college degrees over the next decade, from 31 percent today to 60 percent by 2020.</div><div><br></div><div>Board President Richard Westerberg said Thursday that's a "world-class aggressive" goal, but if Idaho fails to hit the mark it risks turning into an economic backwater.</div><div><br></div><div>"By 2018, 61 percent of all new
jobs will require some sort of post-secondary certification, so do we have a choice?" Westerberg said, speaking to the joint budget and education committees. "My experience is that if we aren't producing the work force that businesses need, they'll go someplace else."</div><div><br></div><div>Likening Idaho's colleges and universities to manufacturing plants, he said they'll have to produce a lot more "widgets" without a corresponding increase in state funding.</div><div><br></div><div>"It isn't reasonable to expect an increase in per-student funding to support an increase of this magnitude," Westerberg said. "We need to drastically increase output, while significantly decreasing the per-unit cost and maintaining quality. Global competition requires it."</div><div><br></div><div>The state board has authority over Idaho's entire educational system, from public schools and the superintendent of public instruction to colleges and universities, the
agricultural research centers, community colleges and professional-technical institutions.</div><div><br></div><div>The 60 percent goal, which applies to Idahoans from 25 to 34, was set after a yearlong strategic planning effort, Westerberg said. A variety of initiatives will be needed to meet that target.</div><div><br></div><div>For example, dual enrollment and concurrent credit courses help high school students realize they can do college-level work. They also reduce the time it takes for someone to complete a degree program, and help the institution because students are more likely to attend the college or university where they earned the dual credits.</div><div><br></div><div>The state board also reduced the number of credits needed to graduate, from 128 to 120, and it's encouraging institutions to be more flexible in the way they provide course content. Westerberg noted his own daughter took an online nurse practitioner course from Idaho State
University because she couldn't attend school full-time. That meant she wasn't taking up a seat at the university, so the space could be "sold" to another student.</div><div><br></div><div>"Again, we're trying to make more 'widgets' at a lower price," he said. "I think all our institutions need to focus more on online learning."</div><div><br></div><div>Finally, the board is hoping to implement an "outcome-based budgeting" program in the next year or so.</div><div><br></div><div>"We've had extensive discussions about that over the past year," Westerberg said. "We're closing in on a model that I think makes sense for Idaho."</div><div><br></div><div>The plan would tie 3 percent to 5 percent of an institution's annual state funding to certain "key performance indicators," he said. These goals and measures are already part of each institution's strategic plan - things like degree completion rates, cost per credit hour and post-graduation job placement
rates.</div><div><br></div><div>The idea "is really based on the notion that what gets recognized and rewarded gets attention," Westerberg said. "We want to recognize and reward the good performance at our institutions and focus on areas that need improvement."</div><div><br></div><div>Also on Thursday, the Idaho Freedom Foundation and American Council of Trustees and Alumni released a report praising the State Board of Education for its transparency and diversity of opinion.</div><div><br></div><div>However, the report also gave the state failing grades for cost and effectiveness and general education requirements.</div><div><br></div><div>"We were most impressed with the state board," said ACTA program officer Heather Lakemacher. "Its members are engaged and ask good questions. Over a two-year period, every member voted no on at least one agenda item. That's something we just don't see in other states."</div><div><br></div><div>Idaho's college
retention rates and graduation rates, on the other hand, are below the national average. Depending on the institution, 25 percent to 50 percent of freshmen don't return for their sophomore year, Lakemacher said, and in most cases fewer than 10 percent graduate within four years.</div><div><br></div><div>When it comes to general education requirements, ACTA found "large numbers of Idaho students are graduating without a strong base of knowledge" in areas such as literature and composition, economics, foreign language, math, science, and government or history.</div><div>---</div><div><br></div><div>Spence may be contacted at <a href="mailto:bspence@lmtribune.com" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(17, 65, 112); ">bspence@lmtribune.com</a> or (208) 848-2274.</div></span></div><div style="position:fixed"></div>
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