College- and Career-Ready Standards to the Forefront

Speaking at the National Governors Association 2010 Winter Meeting, President Obama outlined steps to prepare America’s children for college and the workplace. The President called for a redesigned Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) that requires all states to adopt and certify that they have college- and career-ready standards in reading and mathematics, which may include common standards developed by a state-led consortium, as a condition of qualifying for Title I funding.

"America's prosperity has always rested on how well we educate our children – but never more so than today," said President Obama. "This is true for our workers, when a college graduate earns over 60 percent more in a lifetime than a high school graduate. This is true for our businesses, when according to one study; six in ten say they simply can’t find qualified people to fill open positions.” Watch the video and read the White House fact sheet.

Ensuring states have academic standards that reflect the expectations of college faculty and the workplace has been central to Achieve's mission since its founding. We have worked closely with over half the states to develop and validate end of high school college-and career- ready standards, engaging K-12, business, higher education faculty, and other state leaders in the process. Yet, standards can only do so much on their own, which is why the states in the American Diploma Project Network have committed to a broader agenda that includes college- and career-ready standards, graduation requirements, data, assessments and accountability systems. This announcement by the Administration demonstrates that the work of the states has reached critical mass and is now at the heart of the national education reform agenda.

To that end, on Monday March 1 Achieve released its fifth annual state progress report, Closing the Expectations Gap 2010, which shows the significant progress made by states and state leadership in the adoption of policies that aim to ensure all students graduate ready for college, careers and life. 

An article in Politico provides more background information.