COOK IS REAPPOINTED TO EDUCATION BOARD

When Rebecca Cook discovered her new term on the State Board of Education would expire on June 30, 2000, it put in perspective the limited time Missouri has to change its educational system to equip young people for new challenges of the 21st century.

Cook was named to an unexpired term on the eight-member board in September 1990, and reappointed to a full term this week by Gov. Mel Carnahan.

"It has been an exciting time for me ever since I got on the board," said Cook. "I am hoping for the first time we will get various interest groups working together for the common goal of getting Missouri's kids prepared to handle jobs of the 21st century.

"Everything is geared toward the year 2000. It will be pretty clear whether I was able to accomplish my personal goals by then."

Shortly after Carnahan was elected on Nov. 3, Cook sent a letter asking to be reappointed. She discussed the post with the governor and other aides. Members of the governor's staff talked with some of the people she has worked with on the board to determine whether her performance is consistent with the governor's education goals.

"I feel very strongly, as I understand the governor does, that we need to raise our standards for what kids need to know by the time they leave the public school system," said Cook.

"I think we are all trying to think about the vast differences between what a student needs now for when they graduate from high school and what I needed when I graduated. It is unbelievably different."

Cook's appointment is subject to Senate confirmation. She has the support of Sen. Peter Kinder, R-Cape Girardeau, who hopes a confirmation hearing can be scheduled next week.

"I look forward to sponsoring her appointment," said Kinder. "I praised her original appointment over two years ago by John Ashcroft, and I think she served ably on the board and should continue to do so."

Kinder advised the governor's office several weeks ago that he would sponsor Cook, and he predicted prompt Senate confirmation. "I foresee clear sailing on this appointment," Kinder said.

Cook also served on Carnahan's education transition team, and she is optimistic that state leaders know the direction education needs to move.

"It seems to me in work done during the transition and since Carnahan has taken office, policymakers, people in position to make policy changes, are pretty much in agreement that we need to significantly change what kids are expected to learn and need to go about new ways teaching them those competencies," said Cook.

"But the real gap is between what the public perceives people need to know and what policymakers and experts in education perceive kids need to know. That is a real problem."

Cook said many citizens have the mistaken impression that kids can be educated as in the past. Making changes in education will also require new funds, she believes.

Said Cook: "In order to retool any industry you have to put capital into it. Aside from the fact our individual districts have been working on less money with increasing expenses across the board, we have the other problem of finding how to go about doing business differently.

"We need to show teachers new approaches and innovate with technology; we need to give kids tools they need outside of school and how to use them. Kids in the 21st century will have to know how to obtain information because they just can't learn everything out there."

Cook said that the world's knowledge base is doubling every eight months, which means students must know where to get the information they need to arrive at a final conclusion. "You can't have it all in your mind because you won't have enough," said Cook.

Her goal on the state board through the rest of this century is to help close the gap between public perception of what education needs to be and what it really needs to be.

But before work can begin seriously on changing the approach, Cook said the equity issue will first have to be addressed. A circuit court judge ruled recently that the state's formula for distributing funds to school districts is not fair. If a new formula is not enacted by the legislature, the courts will likely intervene.

"The other piece of the puzzle is equity. We have an unfair system for distribution of money at this point, so that is the first step before we get to the second step. We have to straighten out the formula," said Cook.

The board had regular meetings once a month, normally lasting two to three days.

The wife of Cape Girardeau attorney John Cook, she is also an attorney; though she recently stopped active practice. She has two sons: Hunter, a sixth-grade student, and Morgan, a fourth-grader at Washington School.

She is a graduate of the University of Missouri-Columbia, vice president of the board of the Southeast Missouri State University Foundation, a member of the board of the Southeast Missouri Hospital Foundation, and a member of the University Alumni Award committee.