download .pdf of Higher Education Platform

The Issue

Students must be held to high standards of achievement. Today, too many students are coming to college unprepared to handle college-level work. Colleges and universities have established hundreds of programs and incurred significant costs to bring students up to par, but the real solution is to raise public school students' achievement levels.

Michigan's higher education institutions must become full partners in Pre K-12 education reform, working closely with the schools to raise high school curriculum, graduation and college entry standards.

A college's own program of study must be coherent and challenging, with high grading standards. A certificate or degree from an occupational or academic program should always be a mark of achievement and readiness to assume new responsibility.

In addition, students must be given access to the technology and skills they need in today's information age. It is unacceptable to create classes of "have" and "have-not" colleges when it comes to training in technology.

Action Steps

State Funded Partnerships: The State should endorse and fund Pre K-12 education reform measures for partnerships between Pre K-12 systems, community colleges, and four year institutions in teacher training;

State policy should encourage and support policies that assist in creating PreK-16 partnerships that align curricula, match student progression from one grade level to the next through demonstrated mastery of specific skills or knowledge, and coordinate testing requirements from elementary school through college.

Many State initiatives for educational reform have targeted dual credit, dual enrollment or concurrent enrollment programs to enable high school students to earn college level credit in course work offered at the high school or community college. These programs may be part of a larger effort to sequence secondary and postsecondary education curricula, or may simply offer advanced placement courses to high school students. In particular, AFT

Michigan supports a current year blended school aid membership for pupils in their first year at an early/middle college. Additionally, it is important for the State to develop a comprehensive pre-school through postsecondary student data system so that students' success can be tracked throughout their education.

Restore Higher Education Functions to the Michigan Department of Education: To ensure ongoing, coordinated, and productive partnerships among school districts and higher education institutions, State agencies, which provide services and scholarships to higher education, should not be diffused across State government. Further steps should be taken to restore functions to the Michigan Department of Education. Restoring higher education functions to this department is consistent with the State Board of Education's constitutionally mandated role as "the general planning and coordinating body for all public education, including higher education...."

3Successful Collaborations between High Schools and Community Colleges, ERIC Digest, by Pam Schuetz, 2001.

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