This study aimed to investigate the relationships, if any, between Ready to Graduate indicator, average ACT scores, chronic absenteeism rates, and school counselor to student ratios in Tennessee's four urban counties surrounding Memphis, Nashville, Chattanooga, and Knoxville, Tennessee. Only eight of Tennessee's 95 counties have a population that…

Career and Technical Education (CTE) plays a vital role in preparing students for the workforce and postsecondary success. This Spotlight explores innovative approaches to CTE, highlighting strategies for expanding access to college-level coursework and real-world learning experiences. From developing effective career pathway models to integrating…

In 2015, Wisconsin began mandating the ACT college entrance exam and the WorkKeys career readiness assessment. With population-level data and several quasi-experimental designs, we assess how this policy affected college attendance. We estimate a positive policy effect for middle/high-income students, no effect for low-income students, and greater…

Speech-language pathology graduate admission committees frequently try to identify candidates who will succeed academically and clinically in graduate school while ensuring career readiness. This retrospective study focused on graduate admission criteria and student academic and clinical outcomes for eighty students who completed a graduate…

The PreACT® suite of assessments (PreACT® 8/9, PreACT®, and PreACT® Secure™) can be used to monitor students' progress toward college and career readiness. Scores are classified into one of three readiness levels based on chances of meeting the ACT College Readiness Benchmark. This data byte presents the updated score ranges for each readiness…

As educators and school leaders work towards building students' capacity throughout a student's academic career, the goal is to facilitate opportunities for students to develop college and career readiness skills that can be applied to novel and challenging problems long after high school graduation. Hess' Cognitive Rigor Matrix (HCRM) is a tool…

Previous research has linked higher levels of academic preparation as measured by the ACT® to postsecondary success, such as earning higher college grades and completing a college degree in a timely manner. This ACT Data Byte extends these findings, illustrating the positive relationship between graduating from high school college and career ready…

In 2015, Wisconsin began mandating the ACT college entrance exam and the WorkKeys career readiness assessment. With population-level data and several quasi-experimental designs, we assess how this policy affected college attendance. We estimate a positive policy effect for middle/high-income students, no effect for low-income students, and greater…

Many schools, districts, and states administer the PreACT® and/or the ACT® test to measure readiness for college and careers. A recent study suggests that these test scores can also be used to help identify students who are academically prepared and may benefit from some of the more rigorous courses offered in high schools across the nation,…

The purpose of this study was to establish construct validity of a college and career readiness measure using a sample of youth with (n = 356) and without (n = 1,599) disabilities from five high schools across three U.S. states. We established content validity through expert item review, structural validity through initial field-testing, and…

Poor college readiness is a persistent challenge today in the United States that may be overcome in part with the help of a learning model from the past. The purpose and of this quantitative comparative study focused on determining if a statistically significant difference existed in the 2018 SAT Total, Mathematics and Evidenced-Based Reading and…

A continuing priority in education has focused on preparing students for postacademic success. The adoption of the Common Core State Standards Initiative prompted educational leaders to focus on preparing students to be "college and career ready." Definitions, perceptions, and efforts to improve college and career readiness vary widely.…

Results from two studies provided strong evidence for the validity of the HiSET® tests, thereby demonstrating that HiSET is a well-developed battery of tests with passing and college and career readiness (CCR) standards that, when met, provide a pathway to postsecondary education, better employment opportunities and wages, and a better quality of…

In 2020-2021, APIE aimed to align programs and resources to help AISD students navigate the new educational landscape brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic and school closures. While APIE's goals continued to focus on supporting ECHS students in acquiring the knowledge and skills needed to enroll, persist, and succeed in postsecondary education,…

To help provide context to MAP® Growth™ normative percentiles, this document includes multiple College and Career Readiness (CCR) benchmarks, including those from ACT®, SAT®, and Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (Smarter Balanced). The comparative data in the tables presented in this report can be used as data points for instructional…