This report summarizes EPIC’s work with the South Carolina Course Alignment Project from 2008 to 2014. In particular, the report highlights best practices in course alignment and professional development activities conducted over the course of the project.
This white paper considers the benefits and limitations of multiple measures of college and career preparedness. The previous papers in this series evaluated measures against a framework consisting of 10 criteria. This white paper uses theory and practice related to measures of college and career preparedness as its frame of reference and primary organizing structure.
This white paper considers the career preparedness assessments used most widely by state educational systems—specifically ACT’s WorkKeys, the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB), the National Occupational Competency Testing Institute (NOCTI), and industry certification assessments—as measures to be considered for California’s college and career indicator.
This three-phase study explored the effect of the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Programme on college readiness by examining the academic and non-academic preparation of students who participated in IB Diploma Programmes in high school. The study compared college readiness data collected from two groups of students who matriculated to the Robert D. Clark Honors College…
Written by EPIC Founder Dr. David Conley for the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) in June 2014.
This white paper considers course-taking behavior—specifically the a–g subject requirements for the University of California (UC) and the California State University (CSU) systems, career technical education (CTE) course pathways, and an integrated course pathway—as potential measures to be included in California’s college and career indicator.
The National Assessment Governing Board is an independent, bipartisan organization that sets policy for the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). The Governing Board established the NAEP Program of 12th Grade Preparedness Research to assess what NAEP can report on the academic preparedness of 12th grade students entering college and job training. The Governing Board commissioned the Educational Policy Improvement Center in October 2012 to conduct the College Course Content Analysis (CCCA) study, which used course artifacts to identify the prerequisite knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) in mathematics and reading that are necessary for students to be prepared to qualify for entry-level, credit-bearing courses that satisfy general education requirements.
This white paper considers college admission exams—specifically the SAT® and ACT®—as potential measures to be included in California’s college and career indicator. This white paper begins by presenting a brief overview of the two exams, their respective histories, and their current applications to other state accountability systems. Next, the SAT and ACT are evaluated against the framework being used for all five categories of potential college and career preparedness measures. This white paper concludes with a summary that identifies major strengths, weaknesses, and tradeoffs.
This paper highlights the conceptual soundness of explicitly acknowledging and developing metacognitive factors in the learning process. It also demonstrates the feasibility of measuring these skills and of the ways in which schools, districts, and states can incorporate them into practice, first on a limited, experimental basis, with the commitment to scaling them up when they demonstrate success.
EPIC engaged in a three-part research initiative, conducting an environmental scan to understand the current policy context of South Carolina and to identify “peer state” accountability models, designing and facilitating a series of regional meetings to elicit the values and priorities of stakeholders in the education system, and constructing an analytical framework based on findings from those stakeholder meetings.