GOLDEN Colo.
Colorado
officials on Tuesday proposed delaying or weakening tough new college admission
standards after complaints that the state doesn't have enough high school
teachers to add the required courses.
The higher standards, approved by the state Commission on Higher Education in 2003, are scheduled to take effect next year and could go higher still in 2010.
But many rural school districts and some urban ones said they don't have enough teachers to meet the 2010 standards. Some said they cannot even meet next year's rules.
The state Department of Higher Education on Tuesday asked the commission to go ahead with next year's changes but to delay the 2010 standards for further study.
The department also proposed granting waivers for districts that cannot meet the standards and allowing some colleges to lower the requirements. The waivers could apply to next year's standards, the 2010 standards or both.
State Sens. Josh Penry of Fruita and Rob Witwer of Genesee, both Republicans, sent a letter to Higher Education Commission Director David Skaggs protesting the proposed modifications.
"With virtually every state in the union striving to
ramp up rigor in an effort to close our growing global education deficit, does
Colorado really want to be known as the state that is lowering the bar on
standards and rigor?" they wrote.
- Associated Press
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