Penn State courses will become more interactive with less review of old material if recommendations from a state education report are put into effect, said university associate dean for undergraduate education Jeremy Cohen.
Cohen was selected by Gov. Ed Rendell, who initiated the report, to be a member of the Commission on College and Career Success, which has been working for more than a year on improving Pennsylvania graduation standards.
Pennsylvania Department of Education spokeswoman Sheila Ballen said the strongest recommendation being supported by the governor is introducing end-of-course competency exams in public high schools, which would ensure greater understanding of subject matter.
Cohen said if enacted, this change will have a direct effect on Penn State because raising standards prior to entering college would consequently "ramp up the level at which college students start."
He said college classes would be much more interesting because faculty could spend more time giving students an opportunity to be active contributors to their courses.
"The level of debate among students and between students and faculty could become really exciting," Cohen said.
The commission issued its report in December 2006, Cohen said. The report is part of Project 720, a state education initiative named for the number of days a student spends in high school. The 2006-07 state budget includes $8 million for Project 720 high school reforms, according to Project720.org.
Cohen said the commission recommended replacing the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA) exam, a standardized test currently administered in the eighth and 11th grades, with a system of multiple course-specific exams to ensure students master individual parts of their education.
"A student could take them at any time, repeat a test as many times as needed and would only need to retake the parts in which he had trouble the first time," he said.
But none of the steps to implement the recommendations have been set into motion yet.
"The commission came up with a dozen recommendations to the governor," Cohen said.
Ballen said the timeline for implementing the report's recommendations is unclear, and the changes could be enacted either through regulation or legislation.
Don Houser, Chief of Staff for State Sen. Jake Corman (R-Bellefonte), would not comment.
Penn State College Democrats spokesman Eliot Schmidt said the College Democrats support Project 720 because it "makes much more sense than No Child Left Behind, which has caused teachers to spend more time teaching the test and less time teaching their classes."
President Bush signed the No Child Left Behind Act in 2002, setting the current standards for high school graduation.
Schmidt said the state's suggested standards are a better alternative to the No Child Left Behind initiative.
The Penn State College Republicans could not be reached for comment.
Cohen said the national legislation put into place by the No Child Left Behind Act requires each state to be accountable, but the commission's plan "has gone far beyond that. We want students to truly understand the things they are learning, to be able to make sense of the world around them."
