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The University of Maine System will play a crucial role on a task force created by Gov. Paul LePage that aims to expand postsecondary education opportunities for Maine high school students.
LePage appointed 19 representatives to the task force from various fields in K-12 education, the community college system and the public university system.
“[The University of Maine System] will play a huge role in this, and we’re looking to see that they have a seat at the table and a voice so they can provide some perspective into what happens at the university level,” said Maine Education Commissioner Stephen Bowen. “They have some good ideas about what we can do to provide high school students with access to the type of programs they offer.”
Scott Voisine, dean of community education at the University of Maine at Fort Kent, was selected to represent the University of Maine System on the task force.
He will represent the chancellor of the University of Maine System during his time on the committee. Voisine was not available for comment before press time.
“Our students need more options in high school to get a head start on their postsecondary education and gain the skills they need to be successful in the workplace,“ LePage said in a press release Monday. “Maine’s future economic prospects depend upon the state having qualified workers who can help our businesses, both old and new, grow and create jobs.”
According to Bowen, evidence indicates students who have greater access to early postsecondary education programs are more likely to continue and finish their college education.
“This needs to happen while kids are in high school and still figuring out what they want to do,” Bowen said. “This way, students can decide what type of postsecondary education they need because you give them access and exposure to those type of courses.”
The task force will aim to expand these opportunities to early postsecondary education opportunities available to Maine high school students by streamlining the transition between high school and college.
“We’re trying to increase aspirations and make the transition from high school to college easier while preparing students for college,” said Department of Education spokesman David Connerty-Marin. “We’re trying to see how we can encourage this and make it more acceptable.”
The task force will begin by looking at early postsecondary education programs and opportunities available for high school students in the state at this moment and how these programs work.
“We need to know which programs seem to be best received,” Connerty-Marin said. He added that the task force is also focused on finding the “most effective [program] in preparing students for college.”
The task force will investigate the effectiveness of these programs as judged by students who take the courses and the professors who teach them.
After investigating opportunities available in Maine, the task force will look into programs and opportunities other states have used to address the issue of early postsecondary education programs.
“We know that there are models out there that already take advantage of early postsecondary programs,” Bowen said. “We want to look at these programs and expand access to them.”
According to Bowen, LePage developed the strategy after a visit to North Carolina during which a friend showed him a system that built high schools on community college campuses and incorporated their curriculum with the programs offered by the community college.
In doing this, the students arrived on the college scene with credit and experience in the postsecondary setting already under their belts.
Bowen said that many programs, such as the one in North Carolina, directly tie college-level programs to the high school curriculum, which often causes students to stay for five years. Bowen pointed out students staying five years at a program leave with an associate’s degree and a high school diploma.
“Let’s look at what’s going on out there. We know there are kids taking these courses all over the place,” Bowen said. “Let’s take a look at how they work and look at some models in other states and then report back to the Legislature and the governor later this year to see what type of legislation is possible.”
Bowen said the task force plans to look for ways to improve access to these programs while keeping government as transparent as possible. He added that if something needs to be changed at the state policy level, the task force will not hesitate to look into it.
“It may well be that the task force finds that there are some policies that we need to put in place,” Bowen said. “The goal is to figure out if there are any policy levers that we can move at the state level that can expand access to these programs.”
