Alignment

Bridging the Gap

Data suggests that the Postsecondary Success Collaborative, a program aimed to smooth the transition from high school to college, has increased college enrollment rates. Target high schools participating in the initiative saw a 12% increase in the number of students enrolling in college. The initiative provides school districts with a $5.1 million grant with participants agreeing to use the funds to "coordinate academic programs, align K-12 curriculums with postsecondary and workforce requirements, and engage community groups".

Assessment Governing Board Defines "College Prepared"

The National Assessment Governing Board voted to adopt a definition for what it means to be "college prepared" in regards to reading and mathematics assessment scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). The definitions are based on more than 30 studies and will be used for the reporting of assessment scores in 2014. In addition to setting college readiness benchmarks within the NAEP, the board tried to set career readiness benchmarks, but were unable to draw conslusions relating NAEP performance to careers.

Common Core State Standards & Career and Technical Education: Bridging the Divide

This report provides state education leaders with information on how to align academics and career & technical education (CTE) through implementation of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). This report describes what states are doing to align CTE and CCSS, highlights strategies, and identifies common challenges and barriers to alignment.

Mind the Gaps: How College Readiness Narrows Achievement Gaps in College Success

This report from ACT examines academic factors indicative of first-year college success and retention for high school students, specifically underrepresented racial/ethnic minority and low-income students. The report finds that college readiness, core curriculum, and taking additional coursework in math and science are directly related to college success. This report also discusses factors that lead to lower college success rates and presents recommendations for narrowing achievement gaps.

Promising Practices and Considerations for Districts in Competency-Based Education Webinar Questions: Part 2 –Higher Education Engagement

This post is the second in a two-part series following the webinar, “Promising Practices and Considerations for Districts in Competency-Based Education”, where presenters are responding to questions submitted by participants.

Preparing Every Citizen for the Knowledge Economy: A Primer on Using Early Childhood, K-12, Postsecondary and Workforce Data

This primer explores what it means to link data systems from four perspectives: turf, trust, technical issues, and time; provides recommendations for policymakers to ensure data systems meet user needs; and includes snaphots and resources to help states address some of the challenges outlined in the brief. The recommendations include ensuring input from a broad range of stakeholders, defining the questions the system should be designed to answer, establishing governance structures that ensure data-sharing and security, and building capacity for data use among stakeholders.

Creating Postsecondary Pathways to Good Jobs for Young High School Dropouts: The Possibilities and the Challenges

This paper focuses on strategies for creating postsecondary pathways for high school dropouts in order to close the skills gap as well as connect the talents of these youth to postsecondary skills and credentials. The paper argues that in order to improve educational and economical outcomes for high school dropouts, there must be alignment of secondary, postsecondary, workforce, and adult education systems and several actions must be taken.

Workforce Data Landscape

This fact sheet discusses the importance of aligning workforce data and how that data can inform educational and economic development policy. Aligning education, employment, and workforce data also allows stakeholders to answer a variety of questions such as: What educational experience do children need to successfully pursue their desired careers and do the courses a student takes correlate to his or her later employment and earnings?

Individualized Learning Plans Webinar Questions: Part 2 – Fostering School-Wide Buy-in of ILPs

This post is the second in a series following the May 29 webinar, “The Use of Individualized Learning Plans (ILPs) to Help Students to be College and Career Ready,” where presenters are responding to questions submitted by participants. The first post in this series is available here.

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