Gov. Bill Ritter's main education advisory group Friday recommended an expansion of the program that lets high school students take college courses.

Some school districts already place high school students in community colleges. The recommendation by the P-20 Council calls for a "state-coordinated program that would be universally accessible."

Joseph Garcia, president of Colorado State University at Pueblo and a co-chairman of the P-20 council, said, "What we want to do is create a program that is consistent, understandable and easy to explain to students and parents."

The program could be an important incentive for students to stay in school, Ritter said. Some students could end up with a high school diploma and a community college degree after five years.

The name P-20 refers to the scope of the council's work, from pre-school through graduate school, or grade 20. The panel includes officials from public schools, higher education and business.

The recommendation on college work for high school students was among 21 recommendations the council made to Ritter.

Other recommendations include individual career and academic plans for students. The state's 178 school districts would be rated on their success in meeting the plans as part of the state accreditation process.

Nine recommendations concern teacher licensing, including coursework prospective teachers take in college, a proposal to streamline license renewals by using the Internet and the combining of several "alternative preparations" programs that let people from business or other backgrounds become teachers.

The panel recommends efforts to bolster data collection and train educators to use data to improve learning.

Ritter will choose which of the recommendations to pitch to the legislature or the Colorado Board of Eduction.

Recommendations that require funding are unlikely to get priority, Ritter said.

That would seem to rule out a proposal to pay bonuses to school districts that graduate students who were considered at risk of dropping out when they were in ninth grade. The proposal suggests paying $500 per student to the successful school districts.

Although many of the recommendations are technical, they are important, Ritter said. For example, better data processing would allow educators to see how many drop-outs end up in the corrections system and where they go after they are released, he said.