Colorado Boosts Funding for School Counselors
“Aimed at curbing dropouts, improving graduation rates and sending more kids to college and other postsecondary programs, the corps is designed to offset a growing achievement gap in this relatively affluent but increasingly diverse state. Closing that gap and getting kids to continue their training after high school is especially important here: 74 percent of jobs will require post-secondary education by 2020. The state estimates that its population of working adults will be 43 percent non-white by 2040; by 2050 Hispanics will make up 35 percent of its population. But today, just 20 percent of Hispanic adults in Colorado hold a college degree. State officials see the corps as a means to expand opportunities for the growing numbers of first-generation students and a way to offset the threat of a labor shortage.”