A coalition of small high schools in New York state is challenging the notion that using standardized tests and curricula is the best way to prepare all students for college-level work. The New York Performance Standards Consortium is a network of 40 schools that have agreed to use common performance assessments as a requirement for graduation,…

States are moving to close the gap between high school preparation and college and workforce readiness, but momentum is far greater in some policy areas than in others, a 50-state survey shows. At the National Education Summit on High Schools, state governors agreed to a broad set of actions needed to address the gap. Those include raising…

Policymakers often complain that teacher education programs do not have to answer for the quality of their graduates. Over the past five years, as a result of new accreditation rules, hundreds of those institutions have been quietly revamping how they collect and use data about their students. This article reports on the use of performance…

Less than six months after the nation's governors gathered for a summit on high schools in February 2005, at least half a dozen states have already enacted policies that require students to complete tougher academic programs to earn a diploma. This flurry of activity is evidence that demands for making high school more rigorous, which state and…

States should toughen their high school graduation requirements and test to reflect the English and math skills that students actually need to succeeds in college. To identify what those skills are, the American Diploma Project analyzed employment data and conducted research with more than 300 higher education official, front-line manager, and…