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Defining College and Career Ready
by
Lynette Livingston
December 18, 2015
In partial fulfillment for the requirements in
CTE 911: Comparative Systems
University of Wisconsin-Stout

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College and career readiness is used as an umbrella phrase to describe the
importance of preparation for success in subsequent levels of educational and
occupational progression. This key phrase is used by stakeholders inside of education
and by external stakeholders. College and career readiness, or a variation of the phrase
has been used historically in legislative contexts, political platforms, secondary and post-
secondary administration, and other workforce interest groups as a call to action means.
The purpose of this study was to determine historical context around the definition of
college and career readiness and examine how the definition has been interpreted over
time in various contexts of workforce development, education reforms and key
initiatives.
Clearly, both education and workforce development groups, that use college and
career readiness language share a common interest in the preparation of individuals to
seamlessly transition from secondary education to successful post-secondary education
and training, as well as experience career success. With the subject of college and career
readiness continuing to resurface, it begs questions of who determines what college and
career readiness is, and how success of college and career readiness is measured?
Without common definitions and success indicators shared by the multiple stakeholder
interest groups, each group plans and acts independently. Independently, and through a
singular lens, each of these interest groups develops rich work plans to move towards
closing observed gaps, however autonomous groups working alone can influence
progress only slightly, if at all. Rather, interest groups of college and career readiness
need to work interdependently to collectively identify common definitions and success
indicators that will unite their efforts.

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National Historical Origins and Key Legislation
The United States government has been grappling with the subject of college and
career readiness for many decades. In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the
original Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) as part of the “War on
Poverty,” intended to provide high-quality educational access for all students through
federal funding (Clough, Sara and Montgomery, Scott, 2015). The Elementary and
Secondary Education Act legislation is reauthorized every five years, and most recently
in 2001 under the title of “No Child Left Behind” (NCLB). Under NCLB, all states were
required to adopt rigorous education standards and assessments aligned to those standards
as measurement instruments and submit their plans and results to the federal government
for peer review. States were given autonomy to determine their own rigorous standards
and develop or select assessment tools to align with the standards. NCLB legislation
required an increasing rate of student proficiency achievement demonstrated on
assessments overtime up to 100 percent proficient. In 2012, the federal government
extended NCLB waivers to states because the 100 percent proficiency standard was
unattainable. At that time, the federal administration charged states with developing or
adopting college and career readiness standards and aligned assessments (ACT, 2015).
A Nation at Risk report was presented in 1983 and recommended that states adopt
more rigorous and measureable standards, as well as increase high school graduation
requirements in core subjects (ACT, 2014). This study presented evidence that the United
States was losing its educational competitive edge over other countries. However, follow
up review of changes made in state graduation requirements after A Nation at Risk
indicated minimal changes made. Further, a study of high school graduates’ transcripts

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indicated that graduates were completing the minimum graduation requirements as
recommended by A Nation at Risk leading to the conclusion that additional course credit
requirements did not affect course selection of more rigorous classes (ACT, 2014). The
Nation at Risk report recommended more credits, but didn’t clearly define the intended
rigor for those required credits.
The Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act originated in 1984
with reauthorizations in 1998 and lastly in 2006 as the Carl D. Perkins Career and
Technical Education Improvement Act. The purpose of the Perkins Act has been to
increase the quality of technical education (U.S. Department of Education, 2008). Perkins
funds are available to both secondary and post secondary public education institutions.
The most recent Perkins Act calls for improvement in advancing Career and Technical
Education Programs of Study, expanding accountability using Technical Skills
Attainment (TSA) measures that are validated by industry, and Tech Prep articulation
improvements with accountability measures (Meeder, H., 2008). Under Perkins,
accountability is measured through several indicators including: graduation rates,
technical skills attainment results, program retention and completion, and transitions to
further education or employment. Target benchmarks are established for each
accountability indicator and institutions that fail to make progress toward indicators must
create an improvement plan to provide to their state to avoid funding sanctions—another
example of accountability (Achieve, 2008).
Connected to Perkins as part of improving Career and Technical Education,
mandated changes in student support services have transformed significantly over the
past several decades. School counseling previously operated as a responsive services

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model, and has shifted to a proactive comprehensive school counseling program focused
on three domains: academic development, career development, and personal/social
development (Gysbers, 2013). Advocates of the comprehensive school counseling model
use the term career-ready in their goal setting while working with students. The premise
is that career-ready students are able to understand that life developments occur through
opportunities that begin in elementary school through interactions with people, content,
and intervention services. Those same types of interactions and opportunities will
continue throughout their entire career as a student and worker and best reflects the
“whole person” experiential learning (Gysbers, 2013).
In June 1991, the U.S. Department of Labor produced a publication titled, “What
Work Requires of Schools: a SCANS (Secretary’s Commission on Achieving Necessary
Skills) Report for America 2000.” This publication was prompted following study of
changes in the workforce and effects for education. The SCANS study focused in
specifically on preparing students for work and called for transformation of schools into
high-performance organizations. In the report essential “know-how” of competencies and
foundational skills and qualities for job success were identified. Foundational
competencies included basic skills of communication and mathematics, thinking skills for
problem solving, and personal qualities including responsibility and integrity. In addition
to foundational competence, the SCANS report also called for five “productive use”
competencies in the area of: resources, interpersonal skills, information, systems, and
technology (SCANS, 1991).
Aside from government, other interest groups have formed to advocate
frameworks of standards for meeting readiness. The Partnership for 21st
Century Skills

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was formed with several named business and education endorsers. This agenda claims to
provide a framework for schools that will “engage students more in the learning process
and graduate better prepared to thrive in today’s global economy” (Partnership for 21st
Century Skills, 2006). Specifically the framework created by the group identifies
necessary educational support systems as: learning environments, professional
development, curriculum and instruction, and standards and assessments. In addition to
the foundational supports, Partnership for 21st
Century Skills advocates for specific
standards under the broad categories of: life and career skills, key subjects, learning and
innovation skills, and information, media, and technology skills (Partnership for 21st
Century Skills, 2006).
The U.S. Department of Labor introduced industry competency models and
associated measures of foundational, occupational and industry competencies. The design
of the model includes three base levels considered foundational for workplace readiness
with key behaviors and competencies that are relevant for all occupations identified.
Higher levels can be customized to fit an industry and a specific job. One of the intents of
the Department of Labor’s competency model is to create a visual career pathway that
shows the necessary progression of knowledge, skills, and abilities under the umbrella
term competency, required throughout a career. The base competency model from the
Department of Labor is shown below (U.S. Department of Labor, 2015).
Recently, three special interest groups made up of the National Governors
Association, Council of Chief State School Officers, and Achieve, Inc. collaborated to
propose educational reform related to readiness and global competitiveness. Specifically,
the group called for five actions: 1) Action 1: Adoption of common core standards of

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math and language arts in grades K-12 that are internationally benchmarked. 2) Action 2:
Assurance that instructional resources, curricula, and assessments are aligned to
internationally benchmarked standards. 3) Action 3: Recruit, develop, and retain quality
teachers, administrators, and staff. 4) Action 4: Practice school accountability through
monitoring to ensure high performance. 5) Action 5: Utilize longitudinal student
achievement and attainment by state, and compare to international performance. The
effort of this group launched the beginning of the Common Core standards that were
unveiled in 2010 (National Governors Association, the Council for Chief State School
Officers, and Achieve, Inc. 2008).
Figure 1: Base competency model. (U.S. Department of Labor, 2015).

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Contemporary Events in Wisconsin
Recent attempted reform of more rigorous standards and aligned assessment has
resulted in political and economic turmoil in states. Wisconsin was one of the first states
to endorse the Common Core standards by signature of State Superintendent Tony Evers,
and was considered an early adopter of the standards. Wisconsin K-12 schools created
implementation plans and timelines for introducing the Common Core Standards by
mapping out professional development time for teachers to interpret the standards and
modify curriculum. At the same time, Wisconsin joined the Smarter Balanced
Assessment Consortium, a collective group of states, to begin development of a new
assessment instrument that would be aligned to the Common Core Standards. Shortly
after schools began implementing the Common Core Standards in classrooms, general
public and state legislative scrutiny began. Hearings were held across the state with
testimony given by individuals supporting and opposing the standards. In the end,
Governor Scott Walker encouraged legislation repealing the state’s adoption of the
Common Core Standards, although individual school districts could choose to use the
standards with their board’s approval until new standards specifically for Wisconsin were
developed. Additionally, the Badger Test, the new test instrument aligned to the Common
Core Standards was stopped through legislation, resulting in the test being given only one
time after its creation. It is estimated that $25 million were spent in Wisconsin’s K-12
system to prepare for implementation of the Common Core Standards. Currently,
educational standards remain in limbo in Wisconsin (Wisconsin State Journal, 2014).

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Key Points
Over many years, and from multiple and varied sources including political,
workforce development groups, and special interest groups similar concerns and
recommendations surrounding readiness surface. In general, there is shared concern that
America’s students are underprepared for their next steps following high school
graduation. Remediation rates for students entering post-secondary education are higher
than desired, and there is a perceived gap in non-cognitive abilities of students as they
transition from secondary education to their chosen path. Several legislative reforms and
special interest reforms have been introduced and largely they yield similar
recommendations for improvement. Reforms call for rigorous standards, assessments
aligned to the standards, quality instructional resources, accountability, and qualified
educators to advance students to a state of being college and career ready. While most of
these reforms make similar recommendations, action plans lack, as well as agreed upon
definitions of college and career readiness and indicators of progress. An example where
defined college readiness is unclear is that post-secondary institutions operate with
significant autonomy and have large variance in admission and placement standards. A
student may be deemed college ready in one institution and not in another because of
different entry expectations. Without common definitions, a shared vision, and a
collaborative program of work, multiple stakeholder groups are working on similar work
simultaneously. Such efforts may result in competing interests and incremental advances
rather than coordinated work causing transformational changes that clearly define
readiness expectations.

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Recommendations
Clearly, with years of ongoing discussion and advocacy surrounding readiness
skills, agreed upon definitions are necessary. ACT’s definitions are generally accepted by
the educational community, and are recommended for use by all stakeholders without
variance. ACT defines college readiness as, “the level of achievement a student needs to
be ready to enroll and succeed, without remediation, in credit-bearing first-year
postsecondary courses” (ACT, 2015). Further, ACT defines career readiness as, “the
level of “foundational” skills” an individual needs for success in a career pathway or
career cluster, coupled with the level of “career planning skills” needed to advance
within a career path or transition to other career paths” (ACT, 2015). This definition
matches the U.S. Department of Labor’s visual description of competency requirements.
Finally, ACT defines work readiness as, “the level of “foundational skills” an individual
needs to be minimally qualified for a specific occupation/job as determined through an
occupational profile or job analysis” (ACT, 2015). These three readiness areas are very
distinct, and yet combined create a holistic view of an individual’s life journey.
With common vocabulary determined, an established set of measurements for
college and career readiness aligned to high quality, published standards is also needed.
ACT’s assessments are recommended as these test instruments in Wisconsin. This
recommendation comes primarily because ACT’s assessments have ongoing research for
reliability and validity. Further, ACT tests have historic data and have been selected as
required K-12 benchmark assessments in Wisconsin, as well as other states. The ACT
assessments are aligned to their published college and career readiness standards that are
aligned to the recommended definitions of college, career, and work ready. Therefore,

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adopting ACT’s college and career readiness standards as the base educational standards
is recommended. Certainly, independent schools may add to the base standards if deemed
necessary, but solidified base standards must be committed to for education to proceed
forward. Identified foundational skills, both cognitive and non-cognitive, are important to
all stakeholders in the education to employment continuum as essential and are included
in ACT’s assessment suite. There are key benefits to using a standard set of skills and
measurements, particularly in measuring progress and conducting comparisons to learn
promising practices from those institutions and agencies achieving better performance
results. Results from ACT assessments supports individuals in identifying interests,
exploring personal strengths relative to careers, and pinpointing targeted education and
training needs for advancement in their current educational or employment setting.
Further, the WorkKeys assessment is correlated with profiled occupations using
Department of Labor O*NET occupational codes so the application of the test is vast.
With a shared vision of standards and essential skills needed for employees to be
successful, educators can embed contextualization and work ready practices into the
curriculum, and individuals can seamlessly transition throughout their readiness journey
(ACT, 2013).
Conclusion
From the research conducted, it is clear that the focus and concern of readiness
has stood the test of time with high interest and opinions from various stakeholder
groups. Although the term readiness is regularly tossed around, varying definitions have
existed. Further variance exists when distinguishing college readiness from work and
career readiness. Additionally, multiple approaches to achieve readiness standards have

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been shared through reform proposals with calls to actions and action plans not created or
not shared widely. Millions of dollars in Wisconsin alone were a recent cost of education,
rather than an investment in advancing education because of competing interests. The
time has arrived for shared visioning and agreed upon metrics. Rather than continuing to
debate and invest time creating similar recommendations, the multiple stakeholder groups
desiring the same end result, need to unite. Many quality and tested works exist to build
upon including ACT definitions and measurement tools, U.S. Department of Labor
competency models, and created cognitive and non-cognitive standards. A meta analysis
of these instruments needs to be conducted and beyond recommendations made, actions
plans with target goals and responsible parties identified need to be created. All reforms
and recommendations reviewed are seeking improved quality, therefore solutions should
be developed using regarded quality tools. Using proven quality approaches to achieve
desired results have high likelihood of surpassing global competition, rather than
continuing to draft reforms that cause confusion, internal competition, and result in
minimal advancement. In summary, debate over readiness needs to end with a clear
definition accepted so that the important work of closing readiness gaps can occur.

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References
ACT. (2015). Building common language for career readiness and success: a
foundational competency framework for employers and educators. Iowa City, IA:
Hope Clark.
ACT. (2014). Do stricter high school graduation requirements improve college
readiness? Author: Buddin, Richard and Croft, Michelle
ACT. (2015). How ACT assessment align with state college and career readiness
standards. Author: Clough, Sara and Montomery, Scott.
ACT. (2006). Ready to succeed: All students prepared for college and work. Iowa City,
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American Diploma Project. (2004). Ready or not? Creating a high school diploma that
counts. Washington, DC: Achieve, Inc.
Dougherty, Chrys. and Zavadsky, Heather. (2007). Giving all students the keys to college
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