Career Readiness Assessments Across States: A Summary of Survey Findings

This report describes the key findings of a national survey of state approaches to college and career readiness. The survey sought to answer four basic questions: how do states define career readiness; how is career readiness assessed; how do states use these assessments; and what other issues do states face related to assessing students for career readiness? The authors found that very few states have a statewide operational definition of career readiness; that assessment is challenging due to a lack of responsibility and scant funding; that most states report career readiness exclusively to meet federal requirements without any reference to school accountability decisions; and that the Common Core State Standards have had little impact thus far on the way career and technical education is assessed.