This study of four national English language arts college readiness standards sets compares content alignment and level of alignment of the standards statements in three comparison sets to a benchmark set, the American Diploma Project (ADP), and analyzes the cognitive complexity of all four sets. Specifically, this report addresses two primary…

In today's economy, employers increasingly demand that workers have a high school diploma, yet America's graduation rates are unacceptably low, particularly among poor and minority students. Nationally, only about 70 percent of students graduate from high school on time with a regular diploma; for African American and Hispanic students, this…