Overview: State Definitions of College and Career Readiness
This overview highlights common elements of state definitions of “college and career readiness.” Through the review of state definitions, the author identifies six broad common categories, including academic knowledge; critical thinking and/or problem solving; social and emotional learning, collaboration, and/or communication; grit, resilience, and perseverance; citizenship and/or community involvement; and other additional activities.
This publication provides an interesting overview of state definitions of what it means to be college and career ready. The author has effectively used many state definitions to create six broad categories. Whether or not the six broad categories are truly “actionable,” as the author contends, is debatable. Some of categories are very broad and the degree to which states will hold schools and districts accountable is unknown, especially under the new Every Student Succeeds Act. An interesting aspect of the publication is that some states have gone to incredible lengths in their definitions. Oregon, for example, uses more than 350 words to explain college and career readiness. States might use this publication primarily to see how other states define college and career readiness. Communications quality is acceptable although it could be improved with the use of shorter sentences and darker ink to make text more legible.