CCRS Center Year 2 Preview

Yesterday we shared some highlights from the first year of the College and Career Readiness and Success (CCRS) Center. Today we’d like to share some of our plans for Year 2!

Over the course of our first year, we have seen three major CCRS themes emerge that will form the cornerstones of our work moving forward: multiple pathways to success, P20-W alignment, and indicators and measures of college and career readiness.

• Multiple Pathways to Success. We define multiple pathways to success as the work undertaken by states, districts, and schools to ensure that their policies and initiatives support individualized, flexible college and career pathways for all students. Multiple pathways is a complex topic that incorporates a wide range of initiatives and supports. In Year 2, we will use this multiple pathways lens to make targeted efforts to build capacity around competency-based education.
• P-20W Alignment. Alignment challenges arise between policies and initiatives, across standards and assessment, and within programs and organizations. However, one common emerging challenge is cross-system alignment and effective communication related to college and career readiness efforts. For this reason, we will specifically focus on stakeholder engagement and communication.
• Indicators and Measures. Indicators and measures, already a priority for many states, are a growing issue as accountability requirements change and as multiple pathways become more commonly recognized as effective means of preparing students for postsecondary success. States are increasingly recognizing that CCRS depends on more than mastery of rigorous standards in English language arts and mathematics, and as a result, our focus in Year 2 will be on career-readiness indictors to help inform state measurement.

Across these three topic areas, the CCRS Center will be developing new products and tools, sharing information and resources through the Ready for Success blog and webinars, and providing targeted and individualized technical assistance to RCCs and states. To keep up to date on all of our work, follow us on Twitter and Facebook and sign up for the CCRS Center RSS feed.