Improving Alignment between Postsecondary and Secondary Education: The Texas College and Career Readiness Initiative

This paper presents findings from five separate investigations undertaken as part of the Texas College and Career Readiness Initiative, a legislatively mandated program to increase the number of students attending and succeeding in college. It highlights activities designed to improve alignment between high school and college. These activities include defining what constitutes college readiness, validating the definition against entry-level college courses, developing "reference courses" as benchmarks for college expectations, exploring the relationship between college readiness in cross-disciplinary skills and expectations in two-year certificate courses, and analyzing the degree to which placement tests measure the knowledge and skills defined as college ready. The paper considers findings within a broader policy context to illustrate significance for Texas and for other states. The following are appended: (1) Texas College and Career Readiness Cross-Disciplinary Standards; (2) Scale Items & Rationale Statements for Examining the Alignment between the Texas College and Career Readiness Standards and Entry-Level College Courses at Texas Postsecondary Institutions; (3) Reference Course Profile: English Composition II; and (4) Scale Items & Rationale Statements For Alignment Between the CCRS [College and Career Readiness Standards] and Entry-Level CTE [Career and Technical Education] Courses. (Contains 22 tables and 3 footnotes.) [This report was prepared by the Educational Policy Improvement Center (EPIC).]