"The College and Career Readiness Program should ultimately increase retention and graduation rates and save the State and college students money," said State Senator Ed Maloney (D-Chicago), Chair of the Senate Higher Education Committee and a major proponent of the College Career and Readiness Program. "Every year colleges and college students waste time and money on remedial courses that cover material students should have learned in high school. This program combines the resources of community colleges and local high schools to identify and address students’ weaknesses while they are still in high school."

Established in 2008, the College Career and Readiness Program currently includes four community colleges scattered across the state. The colleges work with local high schools to use ACT scores and other indicators to identify junior-year students who need extra help. They then provide support and guidance for the establishment of remedial courses, Advanced Placement courses, tutoring and other programs to help students catch up before the end of their senior year.

Sen. Maloney and Elaine Johnson, Vice President of the Illinois Community College Board, approached Kankakee College about the possibility of expanding the readiness program to Kankakee. Officials at the college seemed extremely enthusiastic about joining the program. Maloney hopes to expand the program to every community college in the state. Though it requires a small initial investment, he believes it will ultimately reduce costs by lowering the number of remedial courses colleges and universities will need to offer and improving graduation rates.

"This is a smart reform," Hutchinson said. "It should simultaneously save the state and taxpayers money and improve student performance."