The District Role in Supporting College and Career Readiness for Students: Perspectives from Long Beach, Albuquerque, and Philadelphia

Current federal policy and the broader national agenda focus on education as an integral element of a strong and competitive United States economy, and a well-educated workforce is essential to economic growth. To help build this workforce, state education agencies, local education agencies, and schools need to develop comprehensive approaches to implementing college- and career-ready expectations, rigorous instruction, transition plans, and high-quality assessments. This brief focuses on three large, urban districts that have initiated district-wide systemic approaches to prepare students for postsecondary success. Applying this district-wide perspective to college- and career-ready (CCR) initiatives forms a foundation for a more coherent and systematic approach to implementation. The snapshots of these districts provide concrete examples of ways that districts can scale up and broaden the practices recommended in the 2009 IES Practice Guide, "Helping Students Navigate the Path to College" (ED506465)--a guide that describes evidence-based practices that improve postsecondary access for high school students. The IES Practice Guide focuses explicitly on school-level practices to ensure that students graduate ready for college. This brief, however, expands upon those recommendations by examining district-level practices that are designed to prepare students for both college and careers. The three snapshots included here are of district practices during the 2011-12 school year.