Hickenlooper: Retool CSAP, close achievement gap

Democratic gubernatorial candidate John Hickenlooper outlined his education policy Monday and promised that if elected he will speed changes to the Colorado Student Assessment Program to get results into classrooms more quickly.

Hickenlooper and his running mate, CSU-Pueblo president Joe Garcia, outlined an education plan that includes closing the achievement gap between white and minority students and improving rural schools’ access to broadband Internet service.

“We will make sure we are addressing some of the real systemic problems that keep us from having great schools,” Hickenlooper said in a news conference at Arapahoe Community College.

But state residents have no appetite for new taxes and so improvements will have to rely on innovation, he said. “We are not going to throw money at the problem.”

Republican nominee Dan Maes said in an e-mailed statement that Hickenlooper offered “great talking points with no substance. . . . We need a governor who will stand up to the teachers’ union and demand that our least effective teachers be removed from the classroom.”

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Read more: Hickenlooper: Retool CSAP, close achievement gap – The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/politics/ci_15946444#ixzz0yCiHXAPY