During the past decade, education leaders and policymakers have made significant investments to better align California's K-12 and postsecondary education systems and to address persistent disparities in educational attainment by race and socioeconomic status. This report distills important lessons emerging from these efforts, integrating the analysis of statewide quantitative data used by policymakers, education leaders, and higher education systems to evaluate students' postsecondary readiness and interviews of district leaders about their specific efforts to improve students' college readiness, access, and success. The authors focus on several key areas of findings, which serve to organize the report. First, they explore various definitions of college and/or career readiness. They then take a comprehensive look at indicators of college and career readiness, including high school assessments. Third, they discuss how districts are providing rigorous coursework and a college and career preparatory curriculum. Fourth, they highlight innovative efforts used by districts to enhance postsecondary readiness. Additionally, they describe how local education agencies (LEAs) are monitoring college and career readiness and holding themselves accountable for student outcomes. Finally, in each of these areas, they explicitly address disparities by student subgroups and ask school leaders about their actions to address these persistent inequalities. [Research support for this publication was provided by Alexandria Hurtt, Derek Rury, and Iwunze Ugo.]