College- & Career- Readiness: Key Talking Points DR. PHILIP CLEVELAND, JOSH LANEY, RENE’ DAY

The Conundrum Part 1: No Skills

The Conundrum Part 2: The Wrong Skills

College- and Career-Ready The goal for Alabama education is that each student graduates from high school with the knowledge and skills to succeed in post-high school education and the workforce without the need for remediation.

College- & Career-Ready Rate of Alabama Graduates Alabama now gauges the success of its educational process in two ways: 1. The first is with the graduation rate of Alabama’s students. The graduation rate is a measure of a student’s persistence through to the completion of the K-12 educational process. The graduation rate is also a measure of the appropriateness of the supports provided to students as they progress through school.

Graduation Rate

College- & Career-Ready Rate of Alabama Graduates 2. The second measure of success is the college- and career-ready rate of Alabama’s graduates. The college- and career-ready rate measures the preparedness of students for college or careers upon exiting Alabama‘s K-12 school system. The college- and career-ready rate is a percentage calculated by dividing the number of high school graduates who have successfully met an indicator of readiness for college or career with the total number of graduates. Alabama defines a student as college- and career-ready if the student earns at least one of the following:

College- & Career-Ready Rate of Alabama Graduates Alabama defines a student as college- and career-ready if the student earns at least one OR a combination of the following six indicators: 1.Benchmark score on any section of the ACT test. (Entered into INow by ALSDE) 2.Qualifying score on an AP or IB exam. (Entered into INow by ALSDE) 3.Approved transcripted college or postsecondary credit while in high school. (Entered into INow by LEA) 4.Benchmark level on the ACT WorkKeys. (Entered into INow by ALSDE) 5.Accepted for enlistment into the Military (Entered into INow by LEA) 6.Approved industry credential. (Entered into INow by LEA) (NOTE: At this time, there are six indicators; however, others can be added in the future.)

College & Career Readiness Dashboard

What is a benchmark score on the ACT test? The benchmark score on each ACT subtest equates to a 50% chance of getting a B or above in a credit-bearing course in the same subject in a student’s freshman year in college: English = 18 Math = 22 Reading= 22 Science = 23 Students only have to meet ONE of these benchmarks!

What is a qualifying score on an AP or IB exam? AP Qualifying Score = 3, 4, or 5 IB Qualifying Score = 4, 5, 6, or 7

What is “approved transcripted college or postsecondary credit while in high school?” This encompasses more than “dual enrollment.” It takes into consideration other venues as well like Early College, Summer Programs, etc., and it applies to both in-state and out-of-state schools.

What is WorkKeys? WorkKeys ® is a job skills assessment system that helps employers select, hire, train, develop, and retain a high-performance workforce. WorkKeys Assessments Job Profiling Training

What is benchmark level on the ACT WorkKeys? Benchmark Level

WorkKeys Sample Question Level 4- Reading for Information INSTRUCTIONS TO SORTING DEPARTMENT: SPECIAL PROJECT TO FIX ORDER #888 Five long, blue plastic bins have been placed over by the overhead door. Piled on the other side of this room, near the time clock, are several thousand steel rods of varying lengths. All of those rods must be sorted by length and placed in the bins. Bin “1” is for rods that are four to five meters long. Bin “2” is for rods that have a length of over five meters, up to six meters. Bin “3” is for rods that have a length of over six meters, up to eight meters. Bin “4” is for rods that have a length of over eight meters, up to ten meters. Bin “5” is for warped or unsmoothed rods. These will not be accepted. If these rods are not all sorted correctly, the customer will reject the order. We cannot afford to let that happen again. Work as quickly as you can because Friday is the deadline for delivery of the order. According to the instructions shown, what is a condition for project success other than delivery on time? A.All rods must be sorted by both length and diameter. B.Rods eleven meters long must be leaned against the overhead door. C.The customer does not want rods that are warped. D.The five-meter-long rods must go in Bin 2. E.The ten-meter-long rods must arrive at the customer in Bin 4.

What are the parameters of military enlistment? A student must have completed the formal enlistment process and provide documentation.

What is an approved industry credential? This link provides the current state- approved industry credential list for meeting your industry credential accountability indicator

Did you know? The college and career indicators are “separate and apart” from whether a student is eligible to graduate from high school. A student does not have to meet any of these indicators for graduation. A student may possess only one of these indicators OR multiple indicators to meet the criteria. ACT, ACT WorkKeys, and Industry Credentials are state-funded!

College- and Career-Ready Collectively, the college- and career-readiness indicators represent an approach to determining success that values both college- and career- readiness. As such, they help to ensure that Alabama takes a multi-faceted and truly holistic approach to helping students reach the future they deserve.

Resources The link to videos on the Research and Development web site: Career and College Ready Video Career and College Ready Standards Tool Kit This Tool Kit is full of Key Messages: Talking Points, Frequently Asked Questions, Elevator Speech excerpts, etc. It addresses concerns for parents/families, business leaders, students and educators.

Questions?