Alabama Education

ALABAMA COLLEGE AND CAREER READINESS PROGRESS IN NATIONAL ACHIEVE REPORT

MONTGOMERY, AL – Achieve’s sixth annual “Closing the Expectations Gap” report shows Alabama is achieving significant progress in college and career readiness. The annual 50-state progress report measures the alignment of high school policies with the demands of college and careers.


Alabama is one of only three states in the nation to achieve four out of the five reform indicators measured in the annual survey.

Assessments
Graduation Requirements
P-20 Data Systems
Standards
Texas is the only state to achieve all five, including Accountability Systems.


Assessments: Alabama is one of only nine states to require students to take a national college admissions exam.


Graduation Requirements: Alabama is one of 20 states and the District of Columbia with college- and career-ready academic content standards and high school graduation requirements at the college- and career-ready level.


P-20 Data Systems: Alabama is one of 22 states with operational P-20 longitudinal data systems linking states’ student-level K-12 data with similar data from their postsecondary systems.


Standards: Alabama is one of 47 states and the District of Columbia with academic content standards in English language arts and mathematics that are aligned to meet the demands of the real world.


“Alabama public education is showing great progress and great promise, but we always want to achieve more. All students should receive a quality education that prepares them to succeed in college, career and life,” said Joe Morton, State Superintendent of Education.


Dr. Morton continued, “Aligning high school graduation requirements with the demands of college and the workplace is the new norm throughout the country. The goal is a seamless transition from high school graduation to postsecondary education and careers. Our challenge in Alabama is to keep our momentum going so that every student in every classroom is college and career ready.”


Achieve has conducted the “Closing the Expectations Gap” report annually since 2005 when it launched the American Diploma Project (ADP) Network to challenge states to work together on college and career readiness goals. The 35 states in the ADP Network educate nearly 85 percent of all U.S. public school students.