Giving Compass' Take:

· Education Week discusses the Every Student Succeeds Act, accountability and the different ways states are tracking students' college and career readiness.

· How are high schools preparing students for college? How are they preparing students for the workforce? How are colleges helping students enter the changing workforce? 

· Read more about the Every Student Succeeds Act and college and career readiness.

Question: An ESSA accountability system can include a school success "measure" outside of test scores such as college-and-career readiness. However, what exactly does college and career readiness look like? A large portion of students are entering into college and must take the noncredit-bearing "refresher" courses, which indicate their lack of college preparation. Additionally, college retention rates are still lower than many would like. Are these components of how college and career readiness is viewed in the accountability systems? Or what does that metric include?

Answer: The short version is that nearly every state is measuring college and career readiness in some way. Even though there are some common elements (like Advanced Placement test scores, industry certification, workplace experience), the details look different everywhere. But only a small handful are looking at postsecondary enrollment. And most don't consider whether students need to take remedial coursework once they get to college.

More than 40 states are considering postsecondary and career readiness in school performance in some way in their ESSA plans, Ryan Reyna, the director of the Education Strategy Group, said. But they take different paths to including it, according to a forthcoming analysis by Education Strategy Group, in collaboration with Advance CTE and Achieve.

Read the full article about college and career readiness by Alyson Klein at Education Week.