In this brief we outline what alignment between K-12 and higher education means and how to achieve it in practice. We go into detail on why alignment is important and what the key elements of alignment are. We then offer...
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In this brief we outline how K-12 and higher education can create a shared definition of what college and career readiness means. We found that this shared definition often forms the basis of a broader K-12/higher education college readiness improvement...
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In this brief, we address the dual issues of assessment development and use. More than ever, the K-12 and higher education sectors are working together on the quality of assessments to ensure that scores reflect each students’ readiness after graduation....
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In this brief we describe how K-12 and higher education can collaborate to develop college readiness courses, which ensure that every student is ready to start higher education on their first day. Research shows that students who enter higher education...
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In this brief we describe how K-12 and higher education can collaborate on the courses that students first take when they begin postsecondary education. Students perform better and stick with higher education longer when they have a smooth, seamless transition...
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In this brief we discuss the importance of aligning teacher preparation programs with the classroom experience in K-12 schools. Until recently, most preparation programs focused solely on inputs rather than how their graduates performed with students. Improving the standards for...
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Measuring what students know and can do is an essential part of teaching, and like many teaching practices, designing assessments is sophisticated work. In this toolkit, produced under contract as part of the U.S. Department of Education’s Reform Support Network...
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Legislative- and executive-created commissions in three states—Colorado, New Jersey and Ohio—have recently studied their schools’ use of assessments and the time students spend taking tests and offered recommendations for changes. Over the past two years, a handful of national organizations...
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In the Reform Integration Framework and Resource Guide, we offer state and local education leaders a framework to identify priorities for integrating new reforms around college- and career-ready standards, assessments and educator evaluation and support systems. The framework also provides more...
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As states transition to new college- and career-ready standards and assessments, there is lots of misinformation about what these new assessments are and how they will affect students. In these handouts we collect some of the best arguments we’ve heard...
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