Align High School Standards with Real-World Expectations

To close the expectations gap and better prepare students for college and careers, states must first ensure that high school standards reflect the real-world skills and knowledge students need to be successful after they graduate.

Academic standards provide a foundation for curriculum, instruction and assessment, and they communicate core learning goals to teachers, parents and students. But, too often, state high school standards are not anchored in the skills and knowledge employers and colleges now demand. As a result, students can graduate high school and believe they have done well, but they can still be unprepared for work and learning. This "expectations gap" is reinforced by the fact that high schools offer so many non-academic courses, such as consumer math and community science, in key subject areas.

To ratchet up standards to what is required in the real world, colleges and universities must clearly define the knowledge and skills necessary for enrolling in credit-bearing, not remedial, courses. Similarly, employers must be clear about the skills and knowledge needed to succeed in the global economy. And, the K-12 system needs to align its standards and assessments with those college- and career-ready expectations.

 A State Example: Georgia

Georgia adopted aligned standards and college- and career-ready graduation requirements for all students as a result of the collaborative efforts of the state’s K-12 and higher education systems. The University System of Georgia, which includes 35 public colleges and universities, has a number of long-established academic advisory committees in mathematics, science, English and other fields. These committees, which include faculty from each of the state's two- and four-year public higher education institutions, worked closely with the state department of education to develop the new and highly rigorous performance standards that were adopted by the state board of education in 2007. At the same time, the state adopted high school graduation requirements that are aligned to admissions requirements for the University System.

Moving forward, Georgia is modifying the Georgia High School Graduation Test to ensure its alignment to the new standards. This state is also developing a college-ready cut score in mathematics and English language arts, allowing the test to be used to determine both whether students graduate from high school and where they should be placed in college courses in the state's university and technical and adult education systems.

Achieve's Alignment Institutes

Today, more than two-thirds of the states have begun to align standards to college and workplace expectations. Those that have been at it the longest and are working closely with higher education leaders are achieving the most results, according to Achieve's study Closing the Expectations Gap 2008.

To help states define the core knowledge and skills in mathematics and English that graduates need for college and career readiness, Achieve has created a series of Alignment Institutes that bring together K-12, postsecondary and business leaders from ADP Network states. The ADP Network states participating in these institutes include Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin.