Using a college admissions test as the statewide summative assessment is an attractive but risky option for some policymakers and parents. These assessments are used for admissions by nearly all higher education institutions, are shorter in length than most state-designed and consortia assessments, have brand name recognition, and are known for…

This report offers an analysis of the English language arts (ELA)/literacy and mathematics standards of the 24 states that have reviewed and revised these standards after initially adopting the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). The report found most states kept their standards rigorous and maintained college- and career-ready expectations for…

Federal law requires that, at a minimum, states assess high school students at least once in English language arts/literacy (ELA), mathematics, and science; these results are used for school accountability. With states' recent transitions to new assessments and accountability systems, Achieve wanted to know more about how these varied assessments,…

This brief presents an opportunity to gauge how well students with disabilities (SWDs) are doing across the states with respect to selected aspects of readiness for postsecondary success, with an emphasis on the gaps in performance between SWDs and all students, in each state. Achieve has long worked to promote the importance of college and career…

As states consider how their accountability systems will change under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), they face important decisions about which high school assessments to incorporate, what content their assessments will measure, which tests all students will take, and how rigorous those assessments will be. The purpose of this brief is to…

Today's economy demands that "all" young people develop high-level literacy, quantitative reasoning, problem solving, communication and collaboration skills, all grounded in a rigorous, content-rich K-12 curriculum. Acquiring this knowledge and these skills ensures that high school graduates are academically prepared to pursue the…

As shown by MetLife's 2010 "Survey of the American Teacher," America's educators strongly believe that all students should graduate from high school ready for college and a career (85 percent). Additionally, according to MetLife's 2009 survey, 86 percent of teachers believe that setting high expectations for students will improve student…