Alignment

This study reviews the alignment of ACT and the American Diploma Project (ADP) national college readiness standards with the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for English language arts and reading (TEKS ELAR). The study assessed alignment based on both content and cognitive complexity. Findings reveal that the majority of the content in the ACT and ADP standards sets is also in the TEKS ELAR standards, and that the TEKS ELAR standards requires greater cognitive complexity than the ACT and the ADP.

This study compared post-secondary education faculty to student beliefs regarding competencies for post-education employment. Faculty members and international and U.S. students were given quantitative surveys where they were asked to rank-order a list of 17 business skills in order of importance. The authors found students enrolled in business curricula had differing beliefs regarding competencies needed for post-education employment than those held by business faculty. Additionally, business faculty beliefs regarding exit competencies differ from those of surveyed employers.

This policy brief advocates for a state education policy that would award academic credit for career and technical education (CTE) coursework. The authors argue that such a model would improve student engagement, deeper learning, and graduation rates. The brief provides an overview of CTE policy and academic coursework integration, posits a model for best practice, reviews exemplary states in the field, and outlines key factors in effective policy implementation.

This REL technical brief examines the use of Lexile-based assessment to determine the readiness of subgroups of 11th grade Texas students to read books used in first year college English courses. Differences in reading abilities were notable based on ethnicity, gender, SES, at-risk status, Limited English Proficiency status, education track (career and technical education vs. general education), and students receiving special education services.

This policy brief advocates for the approval of academic credit based on the completion of career and technical education (CTE) courses. The brief argues that students who receive CTE instruction are more engaged and experience deeper learning of content in ideal conditions. The authors also propose a method for evaluating CTE courses for academic content in order to determine if they would meet the requirements for awarding academic credit.