CPE’s Bob King has it right, but Owensboro’s Messenger-Inquirer doesn’t

Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education (CPE) leader Bob King has it right about college and career preparation in Kentucky.

As the Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer writes it in “Speaker: College readiness a major concern” (Subscription):

“CPE chief: Too many Kentucky high school grads need remedial classes in college; higher ed should "shoulder part of the responsibility to help K-12"

The Inquirer also says King admitted:

“We are producing superb teachers, but we are producing some that are not as superb enough.”

Somehow, I doubt King’s exact comments were that grammatically challenged, but the idea comes through, anyway.

King said still more, but the Messenger-Inquirer confused his comments about Kentucky’s leading rate of improvement in some indicators with the idea that Kentucky actually now leads the nation for such things as: the percent of adults age 25-64 earning degrees, six-year graduation rates at four-year universities and the number of undergraduate credentials awarded relative to the population with no college degree.

While our recent rate of improvement in those indicators is reportedly the best in the nation, we still have a long way to go to catch leading states in these areas.

Furthermore, it isn’t hard to show big rates of improvement when you are starting from well behind the rest of the pack.