Education leaders: More cooperation is required in Montana from many sectors

More can be done to help Montana students transition from high school to college or careers, state educational leaders said Wednesday at a U.S. Department of Education-funded forum at the Capitol.

More cooperation between the business community, secondary and post-secondary faculty and administrators, along with increased scholarship opportunities and dual enrollment programs, were some of the ideas the leaders discussed as ways to help ease the transition.

While 58 percent of recent Montana high school graduates enrolled in college in 2004 — 2 percentage points higher than the national average — only 43 percent graduated from college in the same year, a far lower percentage than the national average.

And Montana students did worse than the national average in first-year college freshman persistence rates, said Gene Bottoms, senior vice president of the Atlanta-based Southern Regional Education Board, which conducted the forum in conjunction with the League for Innovation in the Community College based in Phoenix.

By JENNIFER BYRD – Associated Press Writer

Full Story: http://www.helenair.com/articles/2006/08/31/montana/a07083106_02.txt