This document is one of eight reports prepared to support the development of a new learning system, a development effort that is the first step in a major initiative undertaken by the Stupski Foundation. The Foundation endeavors to improve the life options of all students, especially underserved urban youth of color by fundamentally redesigning the education system. This report was created collaboratively by researchers from McREL with guidance from officers of the Stupski Foundation. Its purpose is to provide members of a "Design Collaborative" team-- consisting of practitioners, parents, students, and researchers-- with a review of key findings from existing literature to support their efforts to develop the curriculum component of the Stupski Foundation's Learning System. McREL researchers, in collaboration with Stupski Foundation staff members, generated the following research questions to guide this review: (1) What content should be included in a college readiness curriculum? (2) To what extent do current curricula align with college readiness criteria? While McREL researchers concentrated on these two questions, they did so always with an eye toward what worked for students of color and poverty. The discussion section specifically addresses how the findings inform curricular decisions for this target population. These questions focused an extensive review of scholarly and "fugitive" literature. The research team reviewed 161 articles and summarized 120 of them. Data and conclusions from these reports have been synthesized into several key findings provided in this report. The literature review method is appended. References that were reviewed but not cited in this report are also provided. (Contains 2 tables and 2 figures.)