Rising to the Challenge of College and Career Readiness: A Framework for Effective Practices

Rising to the Challenge of College and CareerReadinessA Framework forEffective Practices Rising to the Challenge of College and Career Readiness| 1 Nearly every state has adopted the goal of college and career readiness for all students. At the end of 2011, 45 states had adopted the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in English language arts (ELA) and mathematics,1 with the stated goal to prepare students to “graduate high school able to succeed in entry-level, credit-bearing academic college courses and in workforce training programs” (Common Core State Standards Initiative, 2010a).2 Other states, such as Texas and Virginia, have also focused on aligning their content and performance standards with college and career readiness requirements (Virginia Department of Education, 2010; Texas Education Agency & Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, 2009).Not surprisingly, current research shows that many students are not on target to meet college and career readiness requirements. For example, if performance standards for the Common Core State Standards are set at a level comparable to ACT’s College Readiness Benchmarks—consistent with the goal of preparing students for college and careers—the majority of today’s students are not well prepared to meet those standards (ACT, 2010).2. The Core Practice Framework: Helping to Meet the ChallengeTo enable them to meet higher standards, students need a content-rich curriculum from preschool all the way through high school—not only in English language arts and mathematics, but also in science, history, geography, civics, and the arts. To craft and teach such a curriculum, school districts must develop a coherent system of effective educational practices and steadily improve those practices over many years, despite the numerous distractions placed in their way.Such a system of effective practices is provided in the Core Practice Framework, derived from research by ACT’s National Center for Educational Achievement (NCEA). The Framework practices are organized around five primary themes related to improving teaching and learning (NCEA, 2012):1. Curriculum and Academic Goals: What do we expect all students to know and be able to do in each course, grade and subject?2. Staff Selection, Leadership, and Capacity Building: How do we select and develop the leaders and teachers needed to ensure every student in the system meets these expectations?Overview: The ChallengeContents:1 Overview: The Challenge2 The Core Practice Framework: Helping to Meet the Challenge3 Actions to Help Students Master Readiness Standards4 Conclusion: Rising to the Challenge1 One additional state (Minnesota) had adopted the ELA standards but not the mathematics standards.2 Academic preparation levels required for career readiness are similar to those required for college readiness, when career readiness is defined as adequate preparation for postsecondary workforce training programs that lead to careers in growing fields that pay a family-supporting wage (ACT, 2006). 2 | Rising to the Challenge of College and Career Readiness3. Instructional Tools: Programs and Strategies: What programs, strategies, materials, and time allocation do we use to teach the necessary content and skills?4. Monitoring Performance and Progress: How do we know if students learned what they should?5. Intervention and Adjustment: If students are not learning what they should, what do we do about it?The Framework identifies 15 Core Practices based on these five themes and three system levels: district, school and classroom (Figure 1). The differentiation among the organizational levels is an important dimension of the Framework. The effectiveness of a school system can be assessed by how well each level is functioning relative to its assigned roles within the system. Who assumes certain responsibilities can be as important to success as whether a certain task is done at all. The Core Practice Framework helps illustrate the highly interrelated practices of all three organizational levels.Reading from bottom to top, ACT CCR Standards, State and Common Core Standards, and District Learning Objectives (written curriculum) are the foundation. Applying the 15 Core Practices to the development and teaching of this curriculum leads to high-quality instruction, which creates the opportunity for all students to reach college and career readiness.Figure 1 Rising to the Challenge of College and Career Readiness| 3 Under each of the 15 Core Practices, the Core Practice Framework provides between two and seven Critical Actions with additional detail on the practice; in turn, each Critical Action is described by