The College and Career Readines and Success Center closed on September 30,2019 because the grant cycle for the U.S. Department of Education Comprehensive Centers ended. The information on this website will no longer be updated. Visit www.air.org for updates on college and career readiness.
Submitted by Stephen Abbott on
If you picked out random Americans on the street and asked them if they know what public-school teachers are and what they do, you would almost certainly receive universally affirmative responses. Everyone knows what a teacher is—it’s practically self-evident. Teachers teach students, of course.
This report discusses the benefits of competency education in the context of digital technology that increases personalization and customization, enabling the management of individual learning progression in a data-driven environment. The report outlines 10 capabilities of a competency-based system including flexibility in time and resources, measuring learning gains, and setting college- and career-ready expectations; and 10 design choices that inform the necessary changes in areas such as school structure, grading, and student support.
Using American College Testing (ACT) data, this study assessed whether students have the knowledge and skills necessary to enroll and succeed in a first-year course at a postsecondary institution. The report presents the percentage of students meeting the benchmarks in each area, alignment of student aspirations and workforce demands, graduates exposed to college entrance tests and students pursuing a core curriculum, overall academic achievement and behavior, and policies and practices to improve college readiness.
This workbook, a product specifically requested by the Oregon Department of Education, addresses the topic of proficiency in an attempt to define it objectively and ensure its consistency in the measurement of student achievement across schools and districts. It articulates the many manifestations of proficiency-based practices in the classroom and addresses the common concerns and questions of those exploring “proficiency.” The workbook makes a case for how schools and districts can and will ultimately benefit from this redesign.
Submitted by CCRS Center on
Employability skills, such as critical thinking, technology use, and communication, are critical for success in the labor market. Many of these skills have been integrated into the Common Core State Standards and the Common Career Technical Core. Realizing the importance of developing employability skills across all sectors and levels of employment, the Office of Vocational and Adult Education (OVAE) at the U.S.
Submitted by Wanda S. Monthey on
In a recent collaboration, the Georgetown Public Policy Institute, the Georgetown Center on Poverty, The Business Roundtable, and The College Board published an issue brief, titled The Promise of High-Quality Career and Technical Educati
Submitted by CCRS Center on
This month the College and Career Readiness and Success Center (CCRS Center) released a brief titled Predictors of Postsecondary Success. Prepared in collaboration with Quill Research Associates, LLC, the brief identifies measures of student characteristics (e.g., behaviors, skills) which predict future academic and workplace success.
Submitted by Austin Pate on
On October 14, LearningWorks released a report titled Changing Equations: How Community Colleges are Rethinking College Readiness in Math. The report reveals that remediation, particularly placement in developmental math courses, poses one of the greatest barriers to college completion. The report also highlights four key insights driving recent remediation reform efforts:
Schools today are struggling to achieve innovation, efficiency, and effective reform with limited financial resources. To allay these challenges met by education leaders, the U.S. Department of Education has suggested some approaches to increase educational productivity. Among these recommendations, the Department makes a strong case for policies targeted at personalized learning and competency-based pathways.
This brief argues that a competency-based approach to education is necessary to maximize learning opportunities and student diversity in the 21st century. Drawing from expertise in the field and the preexisting research base, this paper attempts to pinpoint the characteristics of high-quality and effective competency-based pathways. Additionally, it articulates the conditions wherein innovation and implementation of competency-based approaches have surged, and the associated setbacks and challenges states and districts are facing as a result.
