College and Career Ready

Preface vii Acknowledgments xiii

About the Author xv

Introduction 1

Should and Can Today's High Schools Prepare All Students for College and Careers?

College Ready and Work Ready: One and the Same?

The New Challenge

What We Mean by "Ready for College and Careers"

Part One: Redefining College and Career Readiness

1 The Four Key Dimensions of College and Career Readiness 19

General Elements of a More Comprehensive Defi nition of College and Career Readiness

Current Means to Determine College and Career Readiness

An Examination of the Four Dimensions of College and Career Readiness

Differences Between High School and College Courses

Operational Examples of College Readiness

2 Ways to Develop Key Cognitive Strategies and Key Content Knowledge 53

Focusing on the "Big Ideas"

Aligning Courses and Expectations Between High School and College

Formative Assessment for College Readiness

3 Ways to Develop Self-Management Skills and "College Knowledge" 72

Elements of Self-Management "College Knowledge"-Contextual Skills and Awareness

4 Key Principles of College and Career Readiness 104

Principle 1: Create and Maintain a College-Going Culture in the School

Principle 2: Create a Core Academic Program Aligned with and Leading to College Readiness by the End of Twelfth Grade

Principle 3: Teach Key Self-Management Skills and Academic Behaviors and Expect Students to Use Them

Principle 4: Make College and Careers Real by Helping Students Manage the Complexity of Preparing for and Applying to Postsecondary Education

Principle 5: Create Assignments and Grading Policies That More Closely Approximate College Expectations Each Successive Year of High School

Principle 6: Make the Senior Year Meaningful and Appropriately Challenging

Principle 7: Build Partnerships with and Connections to Postsecondary Programs and Institutions

5 Case Studies of Schools That Succeed 133

Alternative School: University Park Campus School, Worcester, Massachusetts

Magnet School: Fenway High School, Boston, Massachusetts

Comprehensive High School: Cherry Creek High School, Greenwood Village, Colorado

Charter School: Minnesota New Country School, Henderson, Minnesota

Early College High School: Manhattan Hunter Science High School, New York, New York

Comprehensive High School: Garland High School, Garland, Texas

Magnet School: Polytech High School, Woodside, Delaware

Private School: Cristo Rey Jesuit High School, Chicago, Illinois

6 Putting It All Together 176

Develop a Profi le of the School's College Readiness Capacity

Identify Outcome Measures of Success

Assess the District Capacity to Support Improvements

Institute Specific Programs to Address the Four Dimensions of College and Career Readiness

Institute Professional Development to Support College Readiness

Recognize the Importance of Culture and Change Culture

Gauge the Progress of Changes in the High School

What Are the Eff ects on Student Performance in College?

Part Two: Steps on the Road to Readiness

7 Steps High Schools Are Taking to Make More Students College and Career Ready 205

Small Schools and High School Conversions

Career Academies

Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate Programs

Early College High Schools

Dual Credit

Learning from the New Models

8 Steps States Are Taking to Make More Students College and Career Ready 219

State Actions to Date

Examples of State Actions

State College Readiness Standards: The Example of Texas

Clear Messages States Can Send to the Secondary System

Clear Messages States Can Send to Th eir Postsecondary Systems

Concluding Observations

Afterword 265

Appendix A: Two Examples of Tasks Th at Develop and Assess Key Cognitive Strategies 269

Appendix B: Example Items from the School Diagnostic 303

Appendix C: Resource List 307

Index 311