Topic: College and Career Readiness
College and Career Readiness
By 2025, two out of every three jobs will require some education beyond high school. Yet far too many students are graduating from high school without the knowledge and skills they need to earn a credential or degree.
Readiness is central to SREB’s core mission of helping states increase educational attainment and grow their economies.
SREB offers policymakers detailed data on policies and how states are using them to improve achievement. And we serve districts and schools with career pathways, curricula and professional learning to help educators prepare students for what comes next in their lives.
Valuing Both Cs in College- and Career-Readiness Accountability Systems
How states can use career pathways to close credential attainment and skills gaps.
This publication explores how state accountability systems currently address college readiness and academic and technical career readiness and offers recommendations and examples of policies and practices that incentivize and reward districts and schools for preparing more students to earn credentials and degrees in high-demand career fields.
Tenets of State Accountability for Increased College and Career Readiness
SREB has identified key tenets of accountability that can guide states toward creating meaningful and valid accountability systems. These key accountability tenets support efforts to increase college and career readiness among the SREB region’s future high school graduates.
How to Close the Readiness Gap Now for Our High School Seniors
Readiness Courses can keep students who are almost ready for college out of remedial classes
Get students the preparation they need during the high school years — not in college, when they have to pay for it.
Too many students graduate from high
school thinking they’re ready for college, only to find
themselves stuck in remedial classwork once they get
there. This is a tragedy for the students. They believe —
and why not? — that if they’re admitted to college they have what
it takes to succeed there.
Interactive Reports Distill New School Accountability Systems in SREB States
What's in your state's plan?
SREB has published interactive reports on school accountability plans in 16 states. With a focus on college and career readiness, state profiles distill complex information about each state’s plan to help policymakers understand and compare accountability measures.
Study Shows 3 High-Impact Strategies for States
Aligning Classroom Materials to State Readiness Standards
How have schools managed the massive shift of aligning classroom
teaching materials to their states’ college- and career-readiness
standards?
New reports from the Southern Regional Education Board detail how
states approached the challenge and recommend strategies to focus
on as the work continues.
Readiness Courses Are Making a Difference
Students Increase ACT Scores Significantly
High school seniors who take SREB’s Literacy Ready and Math Ready courses can substantially increase their readiness for college. We analyzed ACT scores of students in two states – before and after they took the transitional courses. More than half increased their scores
Broader ACT participation shows readiness gap more clearly
As more and more students take the ACT, we can see more clearly the gap between rising high school graduation rates and lagging college readiness.
SREB Readiness Courses: Preparing Students for Success
Program Overview
For states and schools that wish to close the readiness gap, SREB
has
developed two sets of readiness courses in literacy and
mathematics. This brochure presents an overview of the
courses to prepare students for college and for high
school.
Math Ready
Ready for College
SREB’s Math Ready course for the senior year of high school is designed to prepare students who aren’t yet ready for college math. This flier presents a quick overview of the eight units in the course.
The ACT and SAT: No Longer Just College Admission Tests
SREB states adopted key education policies that increased the proportion of seniors taking the ACT and SAT while they were in high school from 2008 to 2013. This brief covers state-by-state college testing policies, plus data on test-taking by racial and ethnic group.
State Policies to Support a Statewide College- and Career-Readiness Agenda
Essential Elements of State Policy for College Completion
A statewide college- and career-readiness agenda signals clearly and universally what knowledge and learning skills or readiness standards are essential for students to succeed in a substantial majority of postsecondary education programs. The standards need to be reinforced by a series of additional steps that include assessment, supplemental course work, and school accountability. SREB’s College- and Career-Readiness Action Agenda includes five essential components across the educational pipeline: 1. Adopt statewide readiness standards. 2. Assess high school juniors for readiness. 3. Offer transitional readiness courses for juniors assessed as underprepared. 4. Apply the standards in college placement. 5. Hold schools accountable.
Transitional Courses for College and Career Readiness
Essential Elements of State Policy for College Completion
Offering high school courses to prepare underprepared students for success in college or career training after graduation is a key strategy to reduce remediation, increase postsecondary completion and provide greater access to making a living wage. This Essential Elements policy brief details efforts in states across the nation, outlines questions policymakers need to address, and recommends 12 essential elements for an effective statewide policy to implement transitional courses.