Sen. Mike Kopp unveiled a plan today to reach out to schoolkids who do poorly on the state's standardized testing--and help them improve.

The Littleton Republican's proposal, which he presented to the Senate Education Committee, is the first statewide effort to address children who fail the Colorado Student Assessment Program test. The CSAP tests have been used for years to benchmark the progress of schools but only recently have been eyed for their potential in helping the students themselves.

"For the first time the CSAP will help the kids--as well as the schools," Kopp, a member of the committee, said after the hearing. No vote was taken on his Senate Bill 199, which is part of the GOP legislative agenda for 2008, while Kopp considers some amendments to fine-tune the bill.

Also today, two leading Republican legislative voices on education issues, Sen. Josh Penry, of Grand Junction, and Rep. Rob Witwer, of Genessee, stood with Gov. Bill Ritter and legislative Democrats at the debut of a wide-ranging education-reform measure that will establish new standards for schools, from pre-kindergarten to college.