Secondary, Postsecondary and Work-Based Learning Integration (1215) Task Force

Per H.B. 22-1215, the primary responsibilities of the task force are:

• Coordinating with the Education Leadership Council and the State Work Force Development Council in completing its duties.
• Designing and recommending 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programs, the task force shall address the ways in which existing statutes and rules must be modified, combined, or repealed to accomplish the goal of enabling school districts and charter schools, working with postsecondary institutions, to provide early college programs.
• Designing and recommending 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.
• Making 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.
• Making 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.
• Taking into account all existing and potential funding sources, designing 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.
• Recommending 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.
• Identifying challenges students face in accessing and completing credentials through secondary, postsecondary, and work-based learning integration programs and recommending ways to address and reduce these challenges.

The task force shall meet at least four times from July 2022 through December 2022 and at least four times from May 2023 through December 2023. The task force is a state public body, so it is subject to the Colorado Open Meetings Law (24-6-402, C.R.S.).

The task force is required to prepare both an interim report and a final report of its findings and recommendations and submit these to the governor, 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’s interim report must be submitted by December 1, 2022, and the final report must be submitted by December 1, 2023.

• Read the Task Force Final Report.
  • See the Community Feedback Report by The Attainment Network
• The Task Force Interim Report was released in December 2022. Read the Interim Report.

Task Force Members

Task force membership is outlined in 22-35.3-23, C.R.S.

• Susana Córdova – Colorado Department of Education
  Commissioner
• Angelika Schroeder – Education Leadership Council
  2nd Congressional District, State Board of Education - Colorado Department of Education
• Danielle Ongart – Colorado Department of Education
  Assistant Commissioner, Student Pathways and Engagement
• Dr. Angie Paccione – Colorado Department of Higher Education
  Executive Director
• Kim Poast – Colorado Department of Higher Education
  Chief Student Success & Academic Affairs Officer, CDHE
• Carl Einhaus – Colorado Department of Higher Education
  Senior Director of Student Success & P-20 Alignment, CDHE
• Sarah Heath – Career and Technical Education
  Associate Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs - State Career and Technical Education Director, CCCS
• Lauren Jones – Career and Technical Education
  CTE Program Director for Special Populations, Counseling & Middle School, CCCS
• Lee Wheeler-Berliner – Colorado Workforce Development Council
  Managing Director, CWDC
• Violeta Apodaca – Parents
  Concurrent Enrollment Advisory Board parent member
• Becky Dancer – School District Administration
  Director of Teaching & Learning, Clear Creek School District
• Julie McCluskie – Representative, District 13
  Speaker of the Colorado House of Representatives
• Rod Pelton – Senator, District 35
• Amadou Dieng – Students
  Communications Manager, Colorado Succeeds
• Raymond Chard - Local District Colleges
  Interim Vice President of Academic Affairs & Director of High School Programs, Aims Community College
• Bill Summers - Principals
  Principal, Canon City High School
• Mike Pintaric - Teachers
  CTE Instructor, Thompson School District
• Marty Goldberg - Community Colleges
  Director of Concurrent Enrollment, Colorado Community College System
• Chrissie Nehrenberg – Four-Year Institutions of Higher Education
  Director of Concurrent Enrollment, Western Colorado University
• Jenise Rosa – Area Technical Schools
  Career Advisor, Pickens Technical College
• Jennifer Levin – Disability Advocacy Groups
  Interim Executive Director, The Arc of Colorado
• Joe Kuntner – Business Community
  Managing Director of Public Sector, Slalom
• Therese Ivancovich – Postsecondary Education Advocacy Groups
  Chief Executive Officer, Attainment Network
• Katherine Novinski – HS Education Advocacy GroupsAssistant Director of Implementation & Partnership, Colorado Education Initiative
• Erin Silver – Work-Based Learning Education Advocacy Groups
  Strategy and Policy Consultant, CareerWise