Other Report

This report examines the need for improving high school accountability for preparing students for college and careers. The report also provides examples of how states use outcomes data to track student success beyond high school and how that data is used to hold schools accountable. 

This report defines 21st century skills and describes the need for integrating these skills into teaching and assessment in order to improve student learning. This report also provides information about assessments for measuring these skills. 

This report presents an overview of the higher education landscape and proposes policy reforms that would lead to innovation in the U.S. higher education system. These recommended reforms are built on four principles: focusing on outcome measures; being open to new providers of higher education; unbundling the components of higher education; and allowing for portability. The report also presents emerging innovative approaches to higher education, such as competency-based models, focused institutions, and assessments of prior learning.

This report provides an overview of the job market and a projection of the jobs expected to be available through 2020 as well as the educational demands for those jobs. Key kindings include: 1) following the recession, jobs will be restored at a slow and steady pace, with healthcare and STEM being two of the fastest growing industries; 2) the highest job growth has been for those who have attained a bachelor's degree or higher; 3) by 2020, 65% of all jobs will require postsecondary education and training.

This report provides an overview of the state of postsecondary career and technical education (CTE) in the United States, including strengths and challenges of the CTE system. It also includes examples of various aspects of CTE systems in other countries and state case studies and recommendations for improving student outcomes of the postsecondary CTE system with a focus on three issues: quality and funding, credentials, and transitions.

This report includes findings from an impact evaluation of the Early College High School Initiative, launched by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The study compared the educational outcomes of students who applied and received admission into Early College through a lottery system to the outcomes of students who participated in the lottery system but did not receive admission. The study sample included 2,458 students and included data from 2004 to 2012.

This report  describes the gap in the alignment between K-12 and higher education learning objectives and outcomes. The authors argue for the coordinated adoption and alignment of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and the Degree Qualifications Profile (DQP) as a solution to this problem.

This report discusses the benefits of competency education in the context of digital technology that increases personalization and customization, enabling the management of individual learning progression in a data-driven environment. The report outlines 10 capabilities of a competency-based system including flexibility in time and resources, measuring learning gains, and setting college- and career-ready expectations; and 10 design choices that inform the necessary changes in areas such as school structure, grading, and student support.

Using American College Testing (ACT) data, this study assessed whether students have the knowledge and skills necessary to enroll and succeed in a first-year course at a postsecondary institution. The report presents the percentage of students meeting the benchmarks in each area, alignment of student aspirations and workforce demands, graduates exposed to college entrance tests and students pursuing a core curriculum, overall academic achievement and behavior, and policies and practices to improve college readiness. 

Dual enrollment and early college high schools have been shown to have a positive association with college completion rates. However, these programs are often among the first to be cut when state funding gets tight. This report outlines how performance-based funding that rewards outcomes such as graduation rates or annual student growth goals is a promising answer to state funding challenges.