HIGHER ED EXAMINES STANDARDS; TASK FORCE FASHIONS IMPROVEMENT PLAN

A statewide task force has proposed a set of standards and goals on everything from college admission policies to graduation rates in an effort to improve higher education in Missouri.

"The purpose of this task force and this report, which sets very strong standards, is to really raise the aspirations and expectations for high academic achievement and for the quality of instruction and learning," said John Lichtenegger of Jackson, chairman of the Task Force on Critical Choices for Higher Education.

The task force, established by the Missouri Coordinating Board for Higher Education last December, comprised 21 members of boards of regents and curators of the state's public and private colleges and universities.

Lichtenegger presented the report to the coordinating board at the board's meeting in Warrensburg on June 26.

The coordinating board plans to hold a public hearing on the report at its September board meeting in Jefferson City.

Ultimately, the board will look at approving the education plan, said Charles McClain, state commissioner of higher education.

McClain said the document provides a blueprint for improving higher education.

"I think the most important thing is it sets goals. It clearly sets out some accountability measures for the colleges and universities," he said. "It is very explicit in that regard."

The plan contains 24 goals, including:

Higher admission standards that would require entering college students to have completed a core curriculum in high school.

Tougher standards for admission to state-approved teacher education programs.

Classifying Missouri's college and universities in terms of their admission standards.

Measuring "success rates" and graduation rates of students at the various schools.

Increasing funding for the Missouri Student Grant Program, which provides money to students at both public and private schools. The plan proposes that grant recipients meet high school core curriculum requirements, beginning with those graduating from high school in the spring of 1996.

Giving the coordinating board the authority to distribute incentive funds to colleges and universities and delete academic programs that are unnecessarily duplicative, inefficient or do not meet minimum standards.

Requiring the coordinating board to issue an annual report on Missouri's colleges and universities, tracking their efforts to meet statewide goals.

The task force report endorses a coordinating board recommendation in support of a high school core curriculum.

Lichtenegger said such a core curriculum is vital in order to better prepare students for college.

"The single largest factor that limits access to higher education is an unprepared student," said Lichtenegger, a Jackson attorney and president of the University of Missouri Board of Curators.

"It is not money. It's not the lack of availability of financial aid. It is not being prepared."

Ann Dombrowski, a member of Southeast's Board of Regents and the task force, said the core curriculum policy is the most important part of the education blueprint.

Kala Stroup, Southeast's president, agreed. "Their point is, when these students don't take these (basic) courses in high school, then we are having to teach them at the college level, which is inappropriate," she said.

Stroup said Southeast and the University of Missouri have already embraced the core curriculum concept in their admission policies.

Lichtenegger said raising test-score requirements for students to be admitted to teacher education programs will help improve education at all levels.

"It is going to assure us that the people who are going into our classrooms are our top college students," he maintained.

Lichtenegger said the task force report stresses accountability. "The task force emphasizes in its goals that we need to be accountable to our students, to parents of our students, taxpayers and citizens of this state."

Lichtenegger said that giving the coordinating board the power to terminate academic programs and reward schools for educational success would give the board "the hammer to coordinate it (education) without regard to political and parochial interests."

State legislation would be needed to give the coordinating board the power to implement some of the proposed reforms, said Lichtenegger.

The report draws upon previous higher education plans, including reforms contained in Proposition B, the tax-and-reform plan for higher education that was soundly defeated last November.

But McClain said the "critical choices" plan is different because it spells out very detailed standards and goals.

One of the big complaints about Proposition B was its "lack of specificity," said McClain. "I think this (task force plan) is a lot more straightforward."

He said the plan could lead to a refinement of the missions of Missouri's public colleges and universities.

"My vision is that ultimately if we can get the institutions to decide on what they want to be and then develop some implementation plans, then we can begin to assign some dollars to those plans," said McClain.

The commissioner suggested that the education blueprint could ultimately lead to a funding measure involving taxes or a bond issue.

But Lichtenegger maintained that many of the education goals can be achieved without increased state funding.

"Many of these goals and objectives can be accomplished without massive infusions of cash," he said.

"I think it can be done without increased funding," agreed Dombrowski, adding that there's little alternative at a time when state funding is limited.

While there is a need for more money for higher education, Lichtenegger said, funding in general was not an issue dealt with by the task force.

"Our task was not to come up with a tax-and-spend plan and we did not," he noted. No dollar figures have been attached to the plan.

The plan, however, suggests incentive funding be used to reward institutions that meet certain admission standards, improve student performance, and increase participation and graduation of minority students and other targeted groups.

Stroup said funding would make a difference in meeting some of the goals. "I do think that some of us (in higher education) think that we can really make a tremendous difference if there is a little bit of funding connected to some of these projects."