Most Americans no longer question whether and which students should be
prepared for college. Rather, it is now widely accepted that ALL
students should be prepared for postsecondary education in some form
(e.g., certificate, 2- or 4-year degree), as these credentials are not
only required for many jobs but are also the surest path to upward
mobility (Carnevale, Rose, Cheah, 2011). There is also greater
recognition that in addition to a more traditional approach to
preparation for postsecondary education (e.g., taking college
preparatory classes), students should also graduate high school with
technical knowledge and employability skills to secure, retain, and
advance their employment when they leave school, at whatever level that
may be. Simply put, today's high school graduates need a broad-based
education that combines an array of knowledge, skills, and experiences
to prepare them for life after high school. And indeed, state's
definitions of college and career readiness have broadened in recent
years to include a variety of skills and dispositions, such as critical
thinking skills, social emotional skills such as collaboration, and
interpersonal skills such as resilience and perseverance (English,
Rasmussen, Cushing, & Therriault, 2016).
The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) of 2015, the key federal K-12
legislation, explicitly supports the notion of a "well-rounded" student,
emphasizing readiness in areas beyond its predecessor's (the No Child
Left Behind Act, or NCLB) focus on core academic content. ESSA mandates
that states ensure that students are provided an enriched, accelerated
curriculum beyond courses and content areas in which state assessments
are given (e.g., mathematics, reading) and that is aligned with the
postsecondary experiences students are likely to encounter. ESSA also
supports an expansion of readiness goals through provisions for the
improvement of conditions for student learning that support
social-emotional learning, intrapersonal skills, and other employability
skills. And ESSA includes provisions in states' accountability systems
that support emphasis on broader definitions of readiness. Additionally,
ESSA's accountability framework includes important principles for
supporting a broader definition of what students need to know and be
able to do once they graduate high school. Accountability systems under
ESSA may include multiple measures of college and career readiness.
Indeed, several states had already added a career-focused indicator
prior to ESSA passing (such as pathway completion or technical
assessment achievement) to their accountability systems, and the number
of states publicly reporting such indicators continues to increase
(Achieve & AdvanceCTE, 2016).
As definitions and measures of college and career readiness continue to
evolve, we know one thing for sure: we need to better prepare ALL
students for success after high school. This book explores the ways in
which some education researchers are approaching this task.
