P-20 Initiatives in Higher Education

P-20 initiatives connect educational systems for increased student performance, greater efficiency, improved outcomes, and smoother pathways throughout a student's career. These factors are of critical importance in a competitive global economy.

The Missouri Department of Higher Education (MDHE) is working on several fronts to help ensure that connections between early childhood, elementary and secondary education, and higher education can create a more seamless pipeline for Missouri students. Activities include:

The P-20 Council

Senate Bill 580, signed in 2006, created a P-20 Council charged to work collaboratively to achieve P-20 policy goals. Members of the council are the commissioners of education and higher education, chairs of the State Board of Education and the Coordinating Board for Higher Education, and the Director of Economic Development. The Council meets five times a year to report and better coordinate activities of the three state agencies.

P-20 Curriculum Alignment Steering Committee

In 2007, a significant part of legislation passed in Senate Bill 389 includes developing competencies for collegiate level work to facilitate transfer of courses among Missouri institutions, for implementation in the fall of 2008. The Missouri Department of Higher Education (MDHE) is committed to working with secondary and postsecondary administrators and faculty experts in identifying an agreed-upon set of competencies (knowledge and skills) in key academic disciplines for entry and exit from beginning collegiate-level coursework in English, Science, Mathematics, and Social Science. This labor-intensive work will serve to establish greater commonality among separately governed institutions on standards for access to beginning collegiate-level work. It will also inform state-level public policy work associated with reducing the need for remediation for high school graduates who immediately enter college and for transfer of collegiate credit among Missouri institutions.

The project will be launched through three initial phases:

Phase 1: Identify faculty experts in core curriculum disciplines and recruit members to serve on the seven Discipline-Based Workgroups; work will consist of developing competencies and skill documents for entry-level courses

Phase 2: Elect representatives from each of the workgroups, and identify secondary and postsecondary administrators to serve on the Curriculum Alignment Steering Committee

Phase 3: The Steering Committee will be charged with: overseeing the work of the Discipline workgroups; promoting curriculum competencies in Missouri public institutions; working together with the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to align curriculum across the K-12/postsecondary boundary; and compiling and presenting recommendations to the Commissioner of Higher Education for policy development.

Longitudinal Data Systems

MDHE is committed to improving linkages between K-12 and higher education data systems to facilitate data-driven decision-making. As the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) is transitioning to their unique-identifier, unit-record student and teacher data system (MOSIS), both departments are working to insure that MDHE's EMSAS data and DESE's MOSIS data will facilitate appropriate and meaningful longitudinal data analysis on student performance and teacher excellence.

Early Childhood Partnerships

MDHE's commitment to streamlining educational systems across the P-20 spectrum extends to the formative education and critical transitions in early childhood education. MDHE participates on a number of early childhood committees, including ECIT (Early Childhood Interagency Team), ECCS (Early Childhood Comprehensive System), MHSSCO (Missouri Head Start State Collaborative Office), and the OPEN Initiative (Opportunities in a Professional Education Network). Notable activities in these groups include greater collaboration and information sharing across state offices (ECIT) and development of a rating system for early childhood centers (OPEN).

For further information, please contact Hillary Fuhrman at (573) 751-2361 or hillary.fuhrman@dhe.mo.gov.