Leveraging the Every Student Succeeds Act to Support State Visions for College and Career Readiness

States have implemented policies and initiatives supporting student college and career readiness by focusing on academic knowledge, social-emotional learning, and employability skills.  The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) provides an opportunity for states to operationalize their college and career readiness vision, in support of the key tenets of ESSA. 

This Ask the CCRS Center brief provides a policy framework to help states align their college and career readiness definitions with relevant policy provisions under ESSA into one cohesive strategy. The framework is grouped into three interrelated policy areas under ESSA:

  • A well-rounded education that emphasizes readiness beyond a focus on core academic content
  • Accountability systems that include multiple measures that may include academic and nonacademic measures
  • Design and delivery of purposeful assessment systems
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