Final Progress Reports - Southern Regional Education Board

Texas legislation requires a new assessment system based on EOC tests in 12 subjects, with Algebra II and
English III tests used to determine college readiness. The Texas Education Agency (TEA), working with
THECB and Texas educators, is developing a new assessment system — phasing out the Texas Assessment
of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) and phasing in the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness
(STAAR). The TEA’s transition plan links assessment to college and career readiness; performance expectations
will be high enough that graduating students will be ready for postsecondary work.
Virginia reviewed its Standards of Learning (SOL) and assessments, supported by a VDOE and State
Council of Higher Education study of secondary and postsecondary student performance data, to determine
college-ready cut scores on the SOL. The state Board of Education is using the results of the data
study and the College and Career Readiness Performance Expectations to establish readiness cut scores on
English III and Algebra II SOL assessments.
West Virginia uses WESTEST2 — a custom-designed, summative assessment of the state’s Content
Standards and Objectives (CSOs) in core subjects for grades three through 11. The WVDE recently
revised the WESTEST based on an analysis of its standards, performance results and expectations with
other measures of college and career readiness and expects to validate WESTEST scores with first-year
college performance. The junior-year WESTEST2 mathematics, reading and language arts scores determine
students’ college readiness. West Virginia is a member of the SMARTER Balanced Assessment Consortium
(SBAC), but until the SBAC assessments are in place, the state will continue using WESTEST to
measure students’ readiness.
While some of these assessment procedures were in place before SREB’s college-readiness initiative began, the
discussions that this project catalyzed around rigorous common standards and early readiness assessments helped
policy-makers recognize the critical role that assessments play in helping underprepared students take transitional
classes and graduate prepared for college-level work. While states are moving toward assessment methods that
measure progress on the readiness standards, the challenge remains to set qualifying scores high enough that
they equate to the readiness performance levels expected for first-year college students to succeed academically.
Curriculum and Transitional Courses
Wide acceptance of the CCSS and analysis of individual state standards for alignment with college-readiness
knowledge and skills lay a solid foundation for helping students leave high school prepared for college and work.
But more changes are needed to ensure that all students are ready.
There are no quick fixes, and the public school curriculum should
Supplemental curriculum and
be modified as necessary to target the specific statewide readiness
standards, mapping back to at least grade eight.
programs designed to teach the
skills needed to succeed in
first-year, credit-bearing college
courses should be developed
and taught in transitional courses
to help students who are at risk
of graduating without being
college-ready.
Providing high school students with the opportunity to find out if
they are college-ready in math and English is a central component
of SREB’s statewide readiness agenda, even though higher and more
explicit readiness standards likely will cause at least a short-term
spike in the numbers of students identified as not ready for college.
This means offering a diagnostic test aligned with college-readiness
indicators in the sophomore or junior year of high school. Students
identified as not meeting the readiness standards should be provided
senior-year instruction to help them meet these standards before
high school graduation.
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