2023 Colorado Revised Statutes › Title 22 - EDUCATION (§§ 22-1-101 — 22-108-109) › SCHOOL DISTRICTS (§§ 22-30-101 — 22-38-115) › Article 35.3 - PATHWAYS IN TECHNOLOGY EARLY COLLEGE HIGH SCHOOLS (§§ 22-35.3-101 — 22-35.3-206) › Part 2 - SECONDARY, POSTSECONDARY, AND WORK-BASED LEARNING INTEGRATION (§§ 22-35.3-201 — 22-35.3-206) › Section 22-35.3-201 - Legislative declaration

(1)
The general assembly finds that:
(a)
Colorado's economic vitality depends on a highly educated, skilled, and diverse workforce ready to meet the job demands of a post-pandemic world. This requires a learner-centered approach to evaluating current programs designed to integrate secondary, postsecondary, and work-based learning opportunities for students enrolled in high school and, ultimately, creating pathways and workforce options that blur the lines between education and career.
(b)
Colorado is considered a national leader in concurrent enrollment policy. The state has enacted several statutes at different times authorizing students to earn college credits while enrolled in high schools. These statutes address various aspects of college readiness and success, including concurrent enrollment programs authorized in article
35
of this title 22; the accelerating students through concurrent enrollment, or ASCENT, program created in section
22-35-108
; pathways in technology early college, or p-tech, high schools authorized in part 1 of this article 35.3; the teacher recruitment education and preparation, or TREP, program created in section
22-35-108.5
; advanced placement courses; the high school innovative learning pilot program created in article
35.6
of this title 22; the career development success program created in section
22-54-138
; and the fourth-year innovation pilot program created in part 13 of article
3.3
of title
23
.
(c)
The general assembly has also enacted many statutes directing community colleges and the state work force development council to create and expand career pathways in a wide variety of careers, ranging from manufacturing career pathways to integrated career pathways within growing industry sectors to career pathways for teachers;
(d)
These programs and statutes have led to a significant expansion of work-based learning and partnerships with employers and a notable increase in the number of students completing industry credential programs, work-based learning experiences, and courses in high schools that qualify for both secondary and postsecondary credit. The department of education reports that, between 2016 and 2021, over thirty-one thousand students completed credentials, work-based learning experiences, and qualifying advanced placement courses through the career development incentive program alone.
(e)
In addition, there are more than twenty early colleges and seven p-tech schools operating within the state, and the general assembly annually appropriates money to fund up to five hundred ASCENT program students;
(f)
Importantly, although Colorado has many examples of innovation through secondary, postsecondary, and work-based learning integration programs, the scalability of these programs, despite their success, can be limited due to legal, geographic, and financial barriers, and the majority of these programs are generally available only to students in urban and larger school districts;
(g)
The task force created in House Bill 21-1330 to study issues in postsecondary education recommended the state focus on blurring the boundaries between high school, postsecondary education, and the workforce. The final report called for expanding innovative high school, postsecondary, and workforce options and pathways, broadly including work-based learning, credential completion, and apprenticeships among other experiences, with a focus on high-need, in-demand, high-value business- and industry-focused career pathways.
(h)
While there is a clear pattern of positive impacts on students resulting from participation in secondary, postsecondary, and work-based learning integration programs, the complicated and interwoven set of issues related to program approval, availability, and funding result in unequal student access across the state; and
(i)
Consequently, the state should provide well-informed educators, administrators, and policy professionals an opportunity to carefully deliberate to ensure that successful, high-performing programs are not adversely impacted while strategies are designed to enable innovation and more equitable access to secondary, postsecondary, and work-based learning integration programs for students in all regions of the state.
(2)
The general assembly finds, therefore, that it is necessary to direct the commissioner of education, the executive director of the department of higher education, and the chair of the state work force development council to convene a secondary, postsecondary, and work-based learning integration program development task force to develop and recommend policies, laws, and rules to support the equitable and sustainable expansion and alignment of programs that integrate secondary, postsecondary, and work-based learning opportunities in all regions of the state.
Added by 2022 Ch. 372, § 1, eff. 6/3/2022.