Pathways to Graduation: Defining College and Career Readiness

College and career readiness has become a hot topic in education and is even more topical now due to the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). ESSA provides states with a platform and autonomy to develop a more coherent and coordinated approach to ensuring that all students are college and career ready. States have developed individual plans which are incorporating innovative ways to infuse career awareness, opportunity, and real-word instruction. For instance, Nevada’s state plan has a “College and Career Readiness & Student Engagement” measure that includes achieving college and career readiness benchmarks on state assessments or postsecondary pathway options.

Over the next few weeks, we will be exploring the topic of college and career readiness through a short series of posts. We will review what college and career readiness means to us at Edmentum and then proceed to explore recommendations on how to be successful in both facets. We know that often these types of definitions can be subjective depending on each school’s unique program; however, let’s review how we are characterizing these terms at Edmentum:

• College readiness can be defined as students possessing strong foundational knowledge in core academic subjects (English language arts, math, science, and social studies) to ensure that students are prepared for success in entry-level, credit-bearing two- or four-year college courses.
• Career readiness can be defined as students learning through real-world instruction in order to build awareness of occupational opportunities that can lead to career pathway Students will have developed basic workforce readiness knowledge, including transferrable skills such as problem solving, critical thinking, and basic communication skills.

College and career readiness ensures that students have a well-rounded school experience with the development of academic, technical, and employability skills. As increasing focus is put on college and career readiness, we’re working hard to better understand the evolving landscape and adapt to ensure that we are providing students with the opportunity to learn academic and fundamental skills like teamwork, critical thinking, and problem-solving in order to achieve success in credit-bearing two- or four-year colleges or workforce training programs.

Check back next week as we continue this series with tips for success in college readiness. Ready to help your students develop the skills they need to succeed in today’s fast-paced world beyond the classroom? Hear an Edmentum customer’s story on how we are partnering to power the school’s college- and career-readiness programs.