As part of its proposal to the U.S. Department of Education, the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) committed to developing model content frameworks for mathematics to serve as a bridge between the Common Core State Standards and the PARCC assessments. The PARCC Model Content Frameworks were developed through a…

Despite the United States' long-standing public commitment to postsecondary education and the growing importance of college degrees for individual and national prosperity, today many Americans fail to achieve these valuable academic credentials. To be able to tackle this problem policymakers require a comprehensive understanding of college…

In this brief, Erik Rice identifies three strategic practices schools, districts, and communities can use to help prepare students for college and career success: (1) To collectively articulate and align a set of student outcomes that prioritize 21st century skills; (2) Transform defined outcomes into functioning frameworks for curriculum and…

Virginia's "College and Career Ready English Performance Expectations" grade 12 capstone course contains high-interest contextualized content designed to give certain students an additional boost for competent and successful entry into college and careers. The course will add to students' preparation for critical reading, college and…

The purpose of this paper is to provide an operational definition of college readiness that differs in scope from current representations of this concept. This paper suggests that, although much has been learned about this phenomenon, particularly during the past 20 years, few systematic attempts have been made to integrate the various aspects or…

"Straight A's: Public Education Policy and Progress" is a biweekly newsletter that focuses on education news and events both in Washington, DC and around the country. The following articles are included in this issue: (1) All I Want for Christmas: Congress Continues Deliberations on Fiscal Year 2012 Funding; Education Programs Potentially Facing…

This report portrays various performance indicators that are intended to facilitate an assessment of the postsecondary education system in South Dakota. Descriptive statistics are presented for South Dakota and five other comparison states as well as the nation. Comparison states were selected according to the degree of similarity of population…

This study was designed to investigate the relationship between participation in federally mandated college and career-preparatory programs--known as programs of study (POS)--and high school achievement outcomes. POS are an organized approach to college and career readiness that offer an aligned sequence of courses spanning secondary and…

This resource is part of a series produced by the Center for Standards and Assessment Implementation (CSAI) to assist teachers and those who support teachers to plan teaching and learning from College and Career Ready Standards (CCRS) for all students, including students with disabilities, English learners, academically at-risk students, students…

Sallie Mae has conducted "How America Pays for College" annually since 2008, providing information about the resources American families invest in an undergraduate college education. This study focuses particularly on the planning and payment behaviors in a given academic year. Now in its seventh year, the study provides a compelling…

ACT has been a leader in measuring college and career readiness trends for decades. Each August, ACT releases "The Condition of College & Career Readiness" (www.act.org/newsroom/data/2013), our annual report on the progress of the ACT-tested graduating class relative to college readiness. Nationally, 54.3% of the 2013 graduating…

This report focuses on the extent to which students who are academically far off track in fourth or eighth grade in Kentucky catch up by eighth or eleventh grade. We studied three recent cohorts of Kentucky students whose eighth-grade ACT Explore® scores were more than one standard deviation below the ACT Explore benchmark scores associated with…

This latest brief updates education leaders on the key policies the 13 (Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia) Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) states plan to implement under federal waivers to No Child Left Behind. It details,…

Post-secondary experiences for students still in high school have been promoted as a means to increase academic rigor and create a better-trained workforce. Yet little is known regarding supports needed to significantly increase such options. This study obtained input from 411 stakeholders in one Midwestern state, including 201 district…

This "Adult College Completion Tool Kit" is designed to connect state administrators and local practitioners to the strategies, resources, and technical assistance tools resulting from the Department's work. States can use this information to identify and implement state adult education leadership priorities, supported by federal "Adult Education…