In addition to state benchmarking services and the American Diploma Project (ADP) Network, Achieve, Inc. is working on a number of initiatives.

RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

Closing the Expectations Gap: This annual report shows the efforts of all 50 states to align high school standards, graduation requirements, assessments, and accountability systems with the demands of college and careers.

Exemplar set of mathematics expectations for grades K–12: Achieve recently “backmapped” its end-of-high-school math expectations to articulate a progression of knowledge and skills from kindergarten. This offers a framework for K–12 content expectations that indicates a progression of mathematical ideas in the four key strands (Number, Data, Geometry and Algebra) and provides a foundation for the skills and knowledge students need to enter college and careers. This tool helps states revise content standards to make them more focused and rigorous. Completed.

Model high school math courses: Achieve will provide states with model high school math course sequences that are explicit about the recommended content for each level. One model will be a “traditional” course sequence of Algebra I, Geometry and Algebra II, and another will be an “integrated” course sequence. Achieve will provide examples of “capstone” courses for the senior year. These course descriptions will help states determine whether courses with the same name across districts or schools are addressing similar content. In progress.

Sample instructional math tasks: To illustrate the level of complexity of the mathematics in the final version of the K–12 expectations and course descriptions, Achieve will identify a rich set of sample instructional tasks (a subset of which will be accompanied by examples of student work) at each level. In progress.

Urban Mathematics Leadership Network: Achieve and the Charles A. Dana Center at the University of Texas works with states and large urban districts to improve secondary math instruction via a system of aligned standards, assessments and data-driven professional development. Working collaboratively, 12 districts will develop strategies to better integrate state and local efforts: Atlanta, GA; Austin, TX; Boston, MA; Chicago, IL; Columbus, OH; Denver, CO; Los Angeles, CA; Memphis, TN; New York City, NY; Portland, OR; Richland One, SC; and Spokane, WA. In progress. More...

English and Communication Benchmarks, Grades 4-12: Achieve has “backmapped” its end-of-high-school English expectations to articulate a progression of knowledge and skills. These expectations will help states as they revise their standards to ensure that they are aligned with the demands of college and careers. More...

Staying the Course: High Standards and Improved Graduation Rates project: Achieve, Inc., and Jobs for the Future, supported by Carnegie Corporation of New York, worked with Indiana, Massachusetts, and North Carolina as well as a local school district in each state, to demonstrate that by working together, states and districts can create a more coherent and aligned use of high school reform strategies and policies to improve achievement and graduation rates for struggling youth within a standards-based environment. A white paper about the dropout problem identifies the best strategies for building an early warning data system to signal which students and schools are in need of interventions. Related reports for Indiana, Massachusetts, and North Carolina are completed. The final report was published in March 2008.

ADVOCACY AND STATE OUTREACH

New tools and resources for state leaders: Campaign tools help leaders and advocates make the case for higher expectations, show examples of states that are taking action and getting results, understand what key stakeholders and the public say about the agenda, identify new research on the impact of higher expectations, and respond to common challenges. More...

Business leaders toolkit: Achieve offers an online a toolkit to encourage the engagement of business leaders in the ADP agenda. Tools include data on what works and which high-leverage strategies businesses can adopt to have a positive impact. Go to www.biztools4schools.org.

Set of examples and vignettes showing how math is used in the workplace: Achieve is compiling a set of examples that illustrate how higher-level mathematics knowledge and skills are used in the workplace. Achieve also will present findings from an analysis of occupational standards and exams from high-growth, high-skilled workplaces. More...

Perspective e-newsletter: Achieve’s e-newsletter is delivered for free via e-mail. It provides commentary, interesting news and links to the latest reports. Published bi-monthly. Subscribe for free!