College and Career Standards Catching On in States

With President Barack Obama having recently proposed to tie federal aid for disadvantaged students to states’ adoption of “college- and career-ready” standards, a new report finds that the number of states that have such standards has mushroomed since 2005, and now stands at 31.

But the report , based on a survey of states, indicates that they have been slower to embrace assessments, high school graduation requirements, and, most especially, “comprehensive” accountability systems to match those standards.

“What started off as isolated efforts among individual states has become a national movement producing a national consensus: Standards must be aligned to college- and career-ready expectations,” says the report by Achieve , a Washington-based group formed by governors and business leaders. “In just five years, it has...