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 22-35.3-204 - Task force duties - report

(1)
The task force shall:
(a)
Coordinate with the education leadership council and the state work force development council in completing its duties;
(b)
Design and recommend comprehensive, uniform policies that encourage and empower high schools and postsecondary institutions to create and sustain secondary, postsecondary, and work-based learning integration programs in every region of the state. The task force shall design the policy recommendations to increase the number, coordination, and collaboration of these programs and must include, at a minimum, policies that enable a high school that chooses to provide an early college program to structure the program as a four-year program, encompassing grades nine through twelve; a five-year program, encompassing grades nine through thirteen; or a six-year program, encompassing grades nine through fourteen. In designing comprehensive, uniform policies to enable four-, five-, and six-year early college programs, the task force shall address the ways in which existing statutes and rules must be modified, combined, or repealed to accomplish the goal of enabling school districts and charter schools, working with postsecondary institutions, to provide early college programs.
(c)
Design and recommend policies to coordinate and expand innovative postsecondary and workforce credential options and career pathways available through secondary, postsecondary, and work-based learning integration programs, with a focus on career pathways leading to credentials associated with high-need, in-demand, high-value businesses and industries;
(d)
Make recommendations concerning the creation of a statewide corps of counselors to assist students in identifying, understanding, and navigating options for secondary, postsecondary, and work-based learning integration programs;
(e)
Make recommendations concerning methods for publicizing the requirements, benefits, and availability of secondary, postsecondary, and work-based learning integration programs to students and families throughout the state;
(f)
Taking into account all existing and potential funding sources, design policy recommendations that create a uniform and comprehensive funding mechanism for secondary, postsecondary, and work-based learning integration programs. The policy recommendations must address implications for existing programs, including the ASCENT program, the TREP program, and p-tech high schools.
(g)
Recommend characteristics of and standards for secondary, postsecondary, and work-based learning integration programs for purposes of authorizing and measuring the performance of these programs and make recommendations concerning how best to use data to build evidence of the long-term impact of these programs. The characteristics and standards must allow high schools of all sizes and from every region of the state to demonstrate program quality, regardless of the size of the school.
(h)
Identify challenges students face in accessing and completing credentials through secondary, postsecondary, and work-based learning integration programs and recommend ways to address and reduce these challenges.
(2)
In completing its duties, the task force shall solicit input from employers and teachers who work with secondary, postsecondary, and work-based learning integration programs and representatives of school districts, charter schools, boards of cooperative services, and postsecondary institutions from around the state who have expertise in secondary, postsecondary, and work-based learning integration programs. The task force shall focus on the issues specified in subsection (1) of this section without addressing the cooperative agreements between local education providers and institutions of higher education entered into pursuant to section
22-35-104
.
(3)
The task force shall prepare an interim report and a final report of its findings and recommendations with regard to the issues described in subsection (1) of this section and submit the reports to the governor, the education leadership council, the state board of education, the Colorado commission on higher education, and the education committees of the senate and the house of representatives, or any successor committees. The task force shall submit the interim report on or before December 1, 2022, and the final report on or before December 1, 2023.
Added by 2022 Ch. 372,§1, eff. 6/3/2022.