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Better results for kids and families through research-informed policy

Increase College Readiness

What Can Policymakers Do?

A number of important promising and innovative strategies are underway across the country including efforts to:

  • Improve alignment between the high school curriculum and college entry expectations.  The American Diploma Project Network is comprised of 35 states committed to increasing college and career readiness through better communication and alignment between high schools and colleges. The South Carolina Course Alignment Project uses paired courses, one exit-level high school course and one entry-level college course, to improve alignment between high school and college.
  • Increase the rigor of the high school curriculum. States are leading a national movement to adopt uniform standards to bring American education into the 21st Century. Forty-eight states, two territories and the District of Columbia have or will adopt Common Core State Standards that set clear expectations for high school graduates’ academic knowledge and the skills they must master in order to succeed in college and careers. The standards are rigorous, evidence-based, aligned with college and work expectations and internationally benchmarked. The Kentucky Department of Education has developed a crosswalk between the Kentucky State Standards and the Common Core State Standards to assist with the transition to the Kentucky Core Academic Standards.
  • Develop and implement aligned and common assessments. The Race to the Top Assessment Program winners for the development of assessments aligned with the Common Core State Standards included an award of over $330 million to the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) and the SMARTER Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC). Diagnostics for college readiness, such as the Florida Postsecondary Education Readiness Test (PERT), will better gauge a student’s readiness for college and accurately place students in classes to increase their progression rates and help them graduate sooner
  • Include college readiness measures in high school accountability. An accountability system, such as the Common Core State Standards, includes college readiness measures that reinforces curricular reform policies. North Carolina’s Career and College: Ready, Set, Go! initiative includes the following five indicators for school accountability purposes: student performance (end-of-grade/end-of-course assessments), measures of college readiness, student academic growth, the five-year cohort graduation rate and the rigor of students' high school mathematics course selections.

Readiness Goals. Participation in Achieve’s American Diploma Project has provided 35 states with support in aligning high school exit and college entry expectations.   Closing the Expectations Gap 2010 provides a state-by-state report on progress towards these goals.

High School Assessments. The Partnership for the Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers is comprised of 26 states committed to a common goal of creating an assessment system to help states dramatically increase the number of high school students who graduate ready for college and careers.