Common Standards

Accelerating the College and Career Readiness of the Nation's Students (State Cards)
May 26, 2011

In the spring of 2009, the Common Core State Standards Initiative was launched with forty-eight states, the District of Columbia, and two territories coming together under the auspices of the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers to develop a common core of state K–12 English language arts and mathematics standards. Within the last year, forty-four states and the District of Columbia have adopted these standards and are now working on implementation. The Alliance for Excellent Education strongly supports this state-led movement that promises to lay a new foundation for systemwide education reform. The attached profiles of the fifty states and the District of Columbia capture the progress made in adopting both the common core state standards, subsequent work in ensuring those standards are accompanied by college- and career-ready assessments, and the potential benefits of preparing all students for success in college and a career.

Click here to access the state card for your state.

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Call for Action: Transforming Teaching and Learning to Prepare High School Students for College and Careers Policy Brief (PDF)
August 12, 2010

The need for new forms of schooling with a learner-centered focus underlies the urgency to retool and enhance the systems that are used to leverage improvements in teaching and learning. In order to transform education at this most fundamental level, policy leaders and educators must focus on crafting integrated systems for defining and developing teacher effectiveness. These policies must take into account capacity building for educators. Solutions cannot be brief or superficial; they must address widespread inconsistencies in what students are expected to achieve and the knowledge and competencies teachers must bring to ensure their success. This brief examines the misalignment of current policies that shape teacher development in the United States and suggests ways to reframe human capital systems to deliver on the promise of next-generation learning.

Press Release

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Principles for a Comprehensive Assessment System Policy Brief (PDF)
February 25, 2010

The United States is poised to make the most dramatic advance in assessment in decades. A state-led effort to develop common core standards in literacy and mathematics is defining what it means to be ready for colleges and careers, and this effort will invariably heighten the demand for assessments that measure a broader range of knowledge and skills and open the door for common assessment components across states. At the same time, the U.S. Department of Education is providing $350 million for consortia of states to develop new assessments that measure the common core standards. And a reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) will set guidelines for assessments and their use for years to come. This opportunity could not be more timely. There is widespread concern that the most prominent assessments currently being used in the United States are inadequate and may have a significantly negative impact on student learning. This brief suggests the principles upon which the federal government and states should base their work in fashioning new assessments. Recognizing that no single test can fulfill all the needs for information by all stakeholders, it suggests the need for a comprehensive system of assessments. Most importantly, the brief argues that this system needs to be coherent and cohesive, aligned to standards for college and career readiness.

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Common Standards: The Time Is Now Fact Sheets (PDF) Issue Brief (PDF)
December 17, 2009

After years of debate, the nation is now taking a bold step toward ensuring that all students graduate ready for college and careers. Under the leadership of the Council of Chief State School Officers and the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices, a panel has drafted a set of Common Core State Standards for college and career readiness. These standards will raise expectations for all students and will be the same no matter where students happen to live. That would represent a sea change in American education, one that is sorely needed. The wide variations that currently exist are unacceptable and are especially harmful to low-income students and students of color. All states and schools should expect every student to graduate from high school ready for college and careers. This brief outlines the need for common standards that are rigorous, clear, and focused and suggests ways that common standards will help lay the foundation for a stronger education system that will prepare all students for college and careers.

Press Release

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Meaningful Measurement: The Role of Assessments in Improving High School Education in the Twenty-First Century Report
June 23, 2009

As the nation embraces the goal of graduating all students college and career ready, there is a growing movement to realign standards, assessments, and accountability systems to that goal. Meaningful Measurement: The Role of Assessments in Improving High School Education in the Twenty-First Century, is a collection of essays by leading experts that discuss important assessment issues, examines promising assessment practices from across the globe, and offers recommendations on how the federal government can support an assessment agenda for the twenty-first century. Topics include: assessments that measure students’ college and career readiness, performance assessments, the role of benchmark assessments, assessing high school students who are English Language learners and students with disabilities, the benefits of international assessments, the role of technology in improving assessments and their use, and how assessment design affects the implementation of a growth model at the high school level.

Full Report

Introduction and Chapters

Press Release

April 14, 2009 Event

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From No Child Left Behind to Every Child a Graduate Report (PDF)
August 28, 2008

This report outlines the Alliance for Excellent Education’s Framework for Action to Improve Secondary Schools, which reflects the consensus among educators, researchers, policymakers, and other authorities on the specific problems of secondary schools, as well as on the research- and best-practice-supported solutions to those problems. Taken together, the seven policy areas contained within the framework offer a comprehensive and systemic approach to secondary school reform.

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Publications & Materials

Common Standards