The Plan

Over the past several years, states have taken the lead in developing and adopting rigorous standards in English language arts and mathematics that build toward college and career readiness by the time students graduate from high school. Nearly every state now has adopted these college- and career-ready standards. The federal government has supported this state-led effort, in part, through ESEA Flexibility, which is helping to ensure that higher standards are being implemented for all students and that educators are being supported in transitioning to new standards. ESEA flexibility has enabled states to replace overly prescriptive and burdensome, "one-size-fits-all" aspects of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) with state-developed accountability systems. All states approved for ESEA flexibility have engaged in one of the following endeavors to raise expectations for students' academic performance:

Upgraded their existing standards to make them more rigorous by working with their four-year public universities to certify that mastery of standards ensures that students will not need to take remedial coursework upon admission to a postsecondary institution in the system; or
Adopted and implemented common standards developed by a consortium of states that build toward college and career readiness.

Additionally, federal policies have encouraged states to adopt high-quality assessments aligned with new, higher standards.

To support this effort, the U.S. Department of Education has provided more than $350 million to two consortia of states to develop high-quality assessments that are benchmarked to new standards. Forty-five states and the District of Columbia are preparing to implement those assessments in the coming school year.

As states are taking the lead in developing college- and career-ready standards and assessments, federal policy also has encouraged states to use measurable indicators of student learning and growth to inform educator professional development and evaluation. For example, under ESEA flexibility, states are developing systems that will evaluate principals and teachers based in part on student growth on test scores, along with measures that may include observation, peer review, feedback from parents and students, and classroom work.

0. About College and Career Readiness Standards

College-and Career-Readiness Standards

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