The P-16 changes in Texas are being driven by the state Legislature, the head of the P-16 Council for Southeast Texas P-16 told a group of counselors at Lamar Institute of Technology.
Steve Buser told the high school counselors that legislation from the last few sessions is driving most of the changes in public school education. He said the State Board of Education was implementing those changes to meet legislative deadlines. “Your seeing a lot of new programs come through very rapidly.
Buser reviewed the State’s “Closing the Gaps” initiative — a push to make Texas competitive with other states in the percent of students recieving college 2- and 4-year diplomas by they year 2010. He said the state is putting emphasis on the need for various “post secondary” successes to make student ready to enter the workforce. “A high school diploma by itself will not be a guarantee of much more than low paying jobs. People who continuing their studies successfully after college earn more in their lifetime, spend less time unemployed, are healthy and live longer, studies show.”
He also showed statistics showing a sharp demand for graduates with Associate Degrees in Southeast Texas.
Buser noted that goals of P-16 are moving faster than the language can keep up. “It just sounds stilted to say ‘ you need a post-secondary education.’ Students will look at you confused. It just means you need to get further job skills after high school — in the military, in a union apprenticeship, in a mechanics school, in college or university, or some other skills training.”
Each year LIT invites high school counselors to hear presentations on their various courses of study, financial aid, and special programs, to make the counselors better able to help students.
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