Achieve's seventh annual "Closing the Expectations Gap" report, released today, shows how all states are aligning college- and career-ready standards in English and mathematics with policy.
Achieve conducts an annual policy survey that asks all 50 states and the District of Columbia whether they have adopted standards, graduation requirements, assessments and accountability systems aligned to the expectations of two- and four-year colleges and employers. The national survey of state education leaders has measured the same areas of reform each year since the National Governors Association and Achieve co-sponsored the National Education Summit in 2005 and this year's survey reveals the following results:
- Standards: All 50 states and the District of Columbia have adopted standards aligned to the expectations of college and careers. 46 states and DC have adopted the Common Core State Standards, while four have state-developed CCR standards. By 2015-16, all English language arts and mathematics instruction should reflect CCR expectations.
- Graduation Requirements: Today, 23 states and the District of Columbia have adopted college- and career-ready graduation requirements that require all students to meet the full set of expectations defined in the CCSS. Hawaii, Iowa, and Washington raised their graduation requirements to the college- and career-ready level in 2011.
- Assessments: Today, 18 states administer college- and career-ready high school assessments capable of producing a readiness score that postsecondary institutions use to make placement decisions. Four new states - Florida, North Carolina, Oregon and Wyoming - joined this list in 2011 by adopting a policy to administer a college- and career-ready test to its high school students. It is expected that 44 states and the District of Columbia participating in one or both Race to the Top assessment consortia will meet this criteria when the next generation assessments are administered for the first time in 2014-2015.
- Accountability: A majority of states, 32, have now incorporated at least one of four accountability indicators that Achieve has identified as critical to promoting college and career readiness. As in last year's report, only Texas meets Achieve's criteria regarding the use of all indicators in its college- and career-ready accountability system. Additionally, four states - Florida, Georgia, Indiana, and Kentucky - have included the use of multiple college- and career-ready indicators in their accountability systems in multiple ways.
To see a full copy of the report, go to www.achieve.org/ClosingtheExpectationsGap2012.
