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Recommendation Four
Align the K–12 education system with international standards and college admission expectations
Recommendation documents
 

Recommendation Four

We Recommend...

that governors, legislators and state education agencies work to provide a world-class education to every American student by aligning high school programs with international benchmarks tied to the demands of college and career.

Core indicators for this recommendation
  • Percentage of Public High Schools Offering AP® or IB Courses in the Four Core Subject Areas
    Most Recent Estimate
    As of 2010
    33.7%
    of public high schools in the United States offer AP or IB courses in English language arts, mathematics, science and social studies.
    1.1ppts
    2009-10
    View details for this indicator
  • Percentage of Schools Offering Dual Enrollment
    Most Recent Estimate
    As of 2009
    83.6%
    of schools in the United States offer dual enrollment.
    View details for this indicator
  • Percentage of States with Alignment Between K–12 and Higher Education Standards
    Most Recent Estimate
    As of 2010
    60.8%
    31 states have alignment between high school standards and college and workplace expectations.
    15.8ppts
    2009-10
    View details for this indicator
  • Percentage of Students in Remedial College Classes
    Most Recent Estimate
    As of 2008
    37.6%
    of first- and second-year undergraduate students in the United States are in remedial courses after high school graduation.
    View details for this indicator
 
 
Ohio
was the first state to study how its education system, including its standards, compared to international benchmarks. Its strategic plan includes benchmarking content standards as an action step and international assessments scores as a measuring metric.
Texas
specifically requires schools to have college-ready standards for accreditation. It also sets up cutoff scores for college readiness in the English III and Algebra II end-of-course exams that place students into credit-bearing college courses after they graduate.
California
Comprehensive content standards are both course- and grade-specific, along with instructional material to help teachers.

How We Assemble Our Indicators

  • The indicators are rigorous
  • The indicators are measureable on a regular basis
  • The indicators have the ability to be disaggregated
Learn about the commission’s criteria to select indicators