"A common vision of a well-integrated educational system extending from birth through postsecondary education is essential." (SHEEO, 2003)

College Ready Benchmarks and Standards

A number of organizations including Achieve, ACT and the College Board have worked extensively with K-12, postsecondary and business community leadership to to identify the “must have” competencies in English language arts and mathematics for success in college and certificate granting courses.  Many states have also made gains in developing assessments and graduation requirements that reflect these college-ready standards.

 

American Diploma Project Benchmarks

The American Diploma Project (ADP) Benchmarks are the result of two years of national research and reflect an unprecedented convergence in what employers and postsecondary faculty believe students need to enter successfully both quality jobs that may require further education and training and credit-bearing college coursework.  In mathematics, the Benchmarks reflect a rigorous four-year course sequence that includes content typically taught in Algebra I, Geometry, and Algebra II, as well as some data analysis and statistics.  In English language arts, the Benchmarks reflect four years of grade-level high school courses that emphasize logic, writing and research.  The ADP Benchmarks and sample tasks from employers and postsecondary faculty may be found here .  A ten-step plan for setting benchmarks in your own state can be found here.

 

Also, see examples of states’ college and career ready standards such as New Mexico's Mathematics Content Standards, Benchmarks and Performance Standards, or Georgia's standards in mathematics and English/language arts that are well aligned with the ADP Benchmarks .

 

ACT College Readiness Standards

The College Readiness Standards statements are intended to help education professionals understand the meaning of the scores earned on the ACT assessment.

Using the score range achieved on the ACT exam, the College Readiness Standards can help teachers, counselors, parents and students understand their progress in gaining the necessary skills in English, mathematics, reading and science that are needed for success beyond high school.

For more information, visit: http://www.act.org/standard/

 

College Board Standards for College Success

The College Board has published content standards for middle school and high school English Language Arts and Mathematics and Statistics. The College Board Standards for College Success define a developmental progression of rigorous learning objectives for six courses in middle school and high school that will lead all students to being prepared for AP or college-level work.  The College Board initiated the effort to develop the Standards for College Success in 2003. To guide the process, the College Board convened committees of middle school and high school teachers, college faculty, subject matter experts, assessment specialists, teacher education faculty, and curriculum experts with experience developing content standards for states and national professional organizations. The committees first defined the academic demands students will face in an AP or first-year college course in English language arts and mathematics and statistics. The information gathered through these surveys and course content analyses represents the most rigorously researched, empirically validated definitions of college readiness available.

For more information, visit: http://professionals.collegeboard.com/k-12/standards