A commission on higher education appointed by New York’s governor, Eliot Spitzer, is considering a plan to encourage the state’s colleges to team up with public middle and high schools to get students on track for postsecondary education.

An article in today’s issue of The New York Sun says colleges would be offered financial incentives to collaborate with schools to create “education empowerment zones.” Students in the zones would receive remediation as early as age 12, and may also get access to Advanced Placement and “early college” programs. The goal is to expand the pool of students who graduate from high school ready to do the work at four-year colleges.

The “education empowerment zone” idea is one of several being discussed by the commission, established by Governor Spitzer, a Democrat, under an executive order. The panel, which includes the chancellors of the State University of New York and the City University of New York, has been instructed to issue an interim report to the governor by the end of November and a final report by the end of June. —Peter Schmidt