Levers for Change: Steps States Can Take to Improve College Readiness

America's current systems of K-12 and higher education are based on the traditional view that only an elite group of students attends college. Today, the majority of students attend some form of postsecondary education after high school. These students encounter numerous challenges: many do not complete their programs of study, almost half the students in higher education require remediation, and college-going and completion rates are inequitable in terms of income level, race and ethnicity. As student demographics shift and students who have been traditionally underrepresented in postsecondary education become the majority in the population, the United States could face an education crisis. To counter this trend, the author advocates connection of high school and postsecondary education standards, policies and practice. Much of this should occur at the state level and it must particularly affect the "broad-access" institutions, which admit almost every applicant and educate more than 80 percent of America's college students. Though students of all races and ethnicities may aspire to the same levels of education, the roadblocks along the way have different impacts on different groups of students, according to data from Stanford University's Bride Project and The Education Trust. To understand these issues more deeply, the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education and its partners analyzed state-level policies that facilitate, or undermine, student transitions from high school to college in four states: Florida, Georgia, New York and Oregon. The research revealed that four policy levers are particularly promising for states interested in creating sustained K-16 reform. This article discusses these policy levers which center on: (1) assessments and curricula; (2)finance; (3) data systems; and (4) accountability.