Achieve's College and Career Readiness Quiz

That’s right! 17 states administer a college admissions assessment, like the ACT or SAT, to all students. For more info, check out page 5 of Achieve’s 2014 Closing the Expectations Gap report. 

No. Unfortunately, just 23 states and the District of Columbia have raised their course requirements in ELA/literacy and mathematics to the CCR level. See page 7 of Achieve’s 2014 Closing the Expectations Gap report for more details. 

It’s actually all three. Recent grads told us in our 2014 survey that real-world learning opportunities, better communication about necessary courses, and opportunities to enroll in challenging courses were the top three things that would have encouraged them to work harder and be better prepared for life after high school.

Nope. 61% of employers reported that their newly-hired high school grads had to get additional training or education to make up for gaps in their preparation – up from 42% in 2004. See everything employers and college faculty had to say in our 2015 survey results.

That’s right – unfortunately, many students to not have equal access to CCR courses. Just 63% of high schools offer physics courses. For more stats on course availability, see page 13 of our 2014 Closing the Expectations Gap report. 

Not quite. While most were satisfied with students’ computer and technology skills, more than 75% of college faculty were displeased with their students’ critical thinking, written communication, and work and study habits. Check out faculty and employers’ full impression of recent high school grads here.

Wrong – only one out of four recent high school grads reported that they felt their high school set high academic expectations. See everything the students had to say in our full Rising to the Challenge survey results.

Sorry! Across both consortia, no student was denied graduation / a diploma based on his or her PARCC or Smarter Balanced scores.  For more details, see page 25 of our 2014 Closing the Expectations Gap report.