Policy: State

New CCRS Center State Map Features—Identify How States Are Measuring and Supporting College and Career Readiness

States are implementing a variety of initiatives and policies to assess and support students’ college and career readiness. To help state leaders and policymakers identify trends and learn about innovative approaches to this work, the College and Career Readiness and Success (CCRS) Center has updated the CCRS Center interactive state map with new and streamlined content. The map provides an easy-to-navigate snapshot of state college and career readiness policies, metrics, and initiatives across all states.

Employability Skills for All Classrooms

To meet the demands of the 21st century workplace, today’s students need to master more than traditional academic skills. Future jobs will increasingly require employability skills – mastery of technology, problem-solving and communication skills, and the ability to work as a team and apply knowledge to new situations.

College and Career Success Through Lifelong Learning Skills

At a time when rigorous content standards and evaluations of teacher and student performance are on the rise, it is especially pertinent and critical to ensure that teachers and education leaders attend to the foundation for learning and working. Education researchers have identified the components of that foundation as a collection of skills commonly referred to as Lifelong Learning Skills.

How Can States Increase Their College Attendance Rates?

The United States used to lead the world in adult postsecondary attainment, but has gradually slipped to 12th. To help the U.S. regain its former position as a world leader in adult postsecondary attainment rates, many states have set aggressive postsecondary completion or attainment goals over the past several years. To achieve these goals, states are adding a variety of ingredients into the recipe to get more youth and adults into and through postsecondary programs. But notably absent from the “cookbook” in most states are dedicated efforts to improve secondary students’ access to high-quality college counseling. A December, 2014 report from the Education Commission of the States (ECS) identifies state approaches that may not reap the hoped-for gains in college-going and highlights recent research pointing to new, successful approaches to increase college-going rates – and a few states implementing promising efforts.

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