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From YouTube: Q and A With Colorado Lt. Gov. Joe Garcia
Description
Lieutenant Governor Joseph Garcia is the executive director of the Colorado Department of Higher Education. Before his appointment by Governor John Hickenlooper in January 2011, Garcia was president of Colorado State University-Pueblo and energized the campus by considering nontraditional solutions to longstanding issues. In this interview at NCSL's 2013 Spring Forum, Garcia provided an overview of the state's plan to connect their sectors in meaningful ways to enable better communication and use data to ensure students are moving through the education pipeline successfully. He sat down with NCSL staff to discuss these initatives and how state legislators are supporting this work.
A
B
Implications
are
dramatic,
and
most
of
them
are
negative.
Frankly,
what
it
means
is
that
students
now
bear
a
greater
proportion
of
the
total
cost
of
their
education
when
I
was
in
school.
When
you
look
at
the
amount
of
funding
that
the
school
got
from
the
state,
it
probably
covered
two
thirds
of
the
cost
of
educating
me
and
Mike
tuition.
Coke
cover
the
other
30.
B
A
B
A
really
good
question,
because
what
we
have
to
do
is
make
it
easier
to
transition
from
one
system
to
the
next
to
move
successfully
from
high
school
into
a
community
college.
If
that's
where
a
student
chooses
to
go
and
from
there
into
a
four-year
institution.
If
the
student
wants
to
pursue
a
bachelor's
degree
and
right
now,
we
don't
have
great
alignment
and
no
state
really
does
so.
We're
focused
on
making
sure
that
high
school
graduation
requirements
actually
align
with
college
admission
requirements
and
that
college
admission
requirements
align
with
the
state's
remedial
policy.
B
So,
for
example,
a
university
might
admit
a
student
who
meets
that
institutions
admission,
call
a
mission
requirements,
but
then
tests
into
a
remedial
course
which
that
institution
can
to
offer.
So
the
student
has
been
accepted
at
a
university
has
to
return
to
a
community
college
to
get
the
remedial
coursework
notwithstanding
that
they
met
the
admission
requirements.
There's
just
too
many
disconnects
and
we
need
to
do
is
make
this
transition
smoother
and
easier.
So
students
aren't
losing
time,
aren't
getting
frustrated
and
aren't
leaving
without
a
credential
to.
A
B
B
So,
especially
if
we
look
at
the
changing
nature
of
jobs,
we
know
in
Colorado
that
the
jobs
that
are
going
to
be
created
here
over
the
next
ten
years
are
going
to
be
overwhelmingly
jobs
that
require
your
post-secondary
credential,
we're
not
producing
nearly
enough
credentials
enough
students
to
fill
those
jobs,
so
it
will
slow
our
economy.
We
have
an
aging
workforce.
B
A
B
We
need
to
have
common
assessments
at
all
institutions,
so
we
know
where
the
students
are
doing
well
tied
to.
That
is
a
longitudinal
data
system
that
allows
us
to
track
every
student
from
every
school
as
that
student
progresses
and
moves
from
school
to
school
moves
from
the
k-12
system
to
the
higher
edge
into
the
workforce.
We
need
that
good
data
to
make
good
policy
decisions.
Then
we
also
need
to
follow
through
on
the
implementation
of
the
Common
Core
in
the
K
through
12
system.
B
If
all
students
are
taking
the
Common
Core,
then
we'll
know
whether
students
are
prepared
to
move
into
college
successfully.
And,
finally,
we
need
to
change
our
remediation.
The
way
we
remediate
students
who
are
not
college
ready
when
they
graduate
because
they
are
languishing
in
remedial
courses
and
not
ever
moving
on
to
college
level
courses
and
certainly
not
moving
towards
a
degree
so
got
to
do
all
of
those
things.
B
A
B
I
think
in
a
lot
of
ways
and
I'll
tell
you
first
I
think
it's
important
that
I
actually
have
a
background
in
education
before
I
went
to
the
department
of
higher
grade
and
so
having
run
both
the
community
college
any
university.
I
have
a
better
sense
of
how
state
policies
and
legislation
actually
impacts
the
administrator
and
the
faculty
member
and
the
student
at
the
institution.
B
So
I
think
it
gives
me
a
better
sense
of
whether
a
particular
piece
of
legislation
is
going
to
be
helpful
to
an
institution
and
student
or
whether
it's
simply
it's
going
to
create
more
red
tape
and
more
barriers.
I
think
it's
also
helpful,
though,
because
I
work
directly
with
the
Department,
the
institutions
and
the
legislature,
so
that
we're
able
to
bring
people
together
to
talk
through
policy
and
then
finally,
we
engage
legislators
as
advisory
members
on
our
colorado
commission
on
higher
ed
and
on
all
of
our
task
forces,
so
we're
able
to
get
legislative
input.
B
A
B
You
know
I
would
suggest
the
legislators
that
they
get
more
involved
in
their
education
system,
whether
their
k-12
advocates
or
higher
ed.
They
need
to
get
involved
and
talk
to
educators
about
what
their
challenges
are.
I
think
they
also
need
to
try
to
serve
on
committees
with
the
Department
of
Higher,
a
where
the
department
of
education
or
with
school
districts
where
they
really
get
to
see.
What
are
the
challenges?
What
are
the
challenges
that
institution
that
district
is
facing
and
be
a
part
of
shaping
a
solution?
B
I
think
also,
they
need
to
think
about
what
they
can
do
through
legislation
to
push
instance,
oceans
to
do
more
to
kind
of
force
them
to
work
together
into
a
line
because
the
institutions
have
existed
separately.
K12
has
never
been
too
concerned
about
what
higher
ed
admission
requirements
are
in
higher
Ed's,
never
been
too
concerned
about
what
k12
graduation
requirements
are,
and
yet
those
things
should
be
matched
up.
They
should
really
mirror
each
other.
B
B
B
It
was
for
us,
but
we're
in
a
very
changing
environment
right
now,
and
we
also
need
to
recognize
that
the
change,
the
changing
demographics
in
the
K
through
12
system,
we
have
more
low
income
and
English
language,
learners
and
students
of
color
in
our
systems
really
everywhere
in
the
country,
and
we
need
to
devise
systems
that
work
for
those
first
generation
and
low-income
students.
We
know
that
we
need
them
to
get
through
high
school
and
get
a
post-secondary
credential
and
the
old
days.
There
were
plenty
jobs
for
people
who
didn't
have
that
now,
there's
not.