SBOE looks to create a better-trained workforce

COEUR d’ALENE — The Idaho State Board of Education has given itself an ambitious challenge.

The state’s top public education policy-makers aim to double the number of 25- to 34-year-old adults with college degrees or certificates.

“It’s a daunting goal when Idaho only has 31 percent of that age group completing college,” said Don Soltman, board vice president.

They call it Complete College Idaho, a strategic plan designed to increase the number of degree- and certificate-holding adults to 60 percent  by 2020.

The ultimate goal is to close the gap between the number of skilled, educated workers in Idaho and the jobs available that require degrees or certificates.

By 2020, it is estimated that 63 percent of jobs in the state will require higher education attainment.

For the past few weeks, the board has been taking its plan to community members and focus groups throughout the state, getting feedback and gathering input before the plan is finalized.

One of the plan’s components is the creation of a college access network.

“We want to provide a single portal where people can easily get all the information they need to link education to careers,” Soltman said.    They hope to “strengthen the pipeline” of students moving from high school to college by giving high school counselors and college advisors more resources and training so they can better meet the needs of all students. Some strategies are already in place - dual enrollment, increased high school graduation requirements and the new requirement that all high school students must take college entrance exams like the SAT.  The degree-boosting plan also seeks to “transform remediation.” Remedial courses are non-credit classes that must be taken at the college before a student has the skills required to take certain for-credit classes.

In Idaho, 41 percent of all first-time, full-time college freshmen required remedial assistance in 2009.

Marilyn Whitney, the Board of Education’s communications officer, said they are looking at the ways remedial requirements are structured.

“Does a student really need a full course of Algebra?” Whitney said.

Some students may just need help mastering one area of a subject, she said.

The  board’s comprehensive plan also focuses on providing first-generation and low-income students with the information they need to access and pay for college; and on restructuring the way college courses are delivered to make it more likely students will complete the degrees they begin working toward.   

The board is expected to review the Complete College Idaho plan in June.