North Dakota school superintendent Kirsten Baesler says she has a goal – to make sure no North Dakota student enters college needing remedial courses.
"We have an 89.7 percent graduation rate," Baesler said. "But we have a remediation rate of about 27 percent."
Baesler wants to accomplish this within 5 years.
"We have the mechanisms in place -- we have the coursework, and we have the financial support to make sure that if they're not ready by the end of their 11th grade year, we have a course that will specifically provide them the opportunity at their high school campus to earn the grade they need to earn," Baesler said.
Baesler said this is all a part of having high school students be “Choice Ready” – meaning they will be ready for the military, for the work world, or for college.
"A student may say, 'I'm never going to go to college -- I'm going into the work world,'" Baesler said. "But I do know -- because I have three sons of my own who worked for a few years, but then said, 'I'm going back to college and I'm going to get that four-year degree.'"
Baesler said schools need to make sure they can fluidly weave from one are of work to another, and be prepared from their high school standpoint.