A foundation of the American Diploma Project (ADP) is ensuring that students graduate from high school prepared for success in college and careers. To help states clearly define the knowledge and skills students need to be prepared, Achieve developed the ADP Benchmarks in English and mathematics along with accompanying workplace tasks and postsecondary assignments that illustrate the intellectual demand that high school students will encounter in the workplace or in first-year, credit-bearing courses.

Development of the ADP Benchmarks

The American Diploma Project commissioned leading economists to examine labor market projections for the most promising jobs—those that pay enough to support a small family and provide real potential for career advancement—to pinpoint the academic knowledge and skills required for success in those occupations. Achieve then surveyed officials from 22 occupations, ranging from manufacturing to financial services, about the skills they believe are most useful for their employees to bring to the job. Following those conversations, Achieve worked closely with two- and four-year postsecondary leaders in the partner states to determine the prerequisite English and mathematics knowledge and skills required for success in entry-level, credit-bearing courses in English, mathematics, the sciences, and the humanities. The resulting ADP Benchmarks reflected an unprecedented convergence in what these employers and postsecondary faculty say are needed for new employees and for freshmen entering credit-bearing coursework to be successful. In English, the Benchmarks reflect four years of grade-level high school courses that emphasize logic, writing, and research. The ADP Benchmarks in English are organized into eight strands:

• Language
• Communication
• Writing
• Research
• Logic
• Informational Text
• Media
• Literature

In mathematics, the Benchmarks reflect a rigorous four-year course sequence that includes content typically taught in Algebra I, Geometry, and Algebra II, as well as some data analysis and statistics. The ADP Benchmarks in Mathematics are organized into four strands:

• Number Sense and Numerical Operations
• Algebra
• Geometry
• Data Interpretation, Statistics and Probability

Within the four mathematics strands are asterisk (*) benchmarks that represent content that is recommended for all students, but is required for those students who plan to take calculus in college, a requisite for mathematics and many mathematics-intensive majors.

Workplace Tasks and Postsecondary Assignments

In both English and mathematics, workplace tasks and postsecondary assignments generated in order to illustrate the practical application of the “must-have” competencies and the intellectual rigor of real-world environments beyond high school.

Within each sample, the corresponding English and mathematics benchmarks are called out so that readers may easily recognize how, and in what context, the benchmarks are applied.

English and Communication Benchmarks, Grades 4 – 12 and Mathematics Benchmarks, Grades K – 12

The American Diploma Project (ADP) benchmarks for the end of high school were written in 2004 to describe the skills needed for success in postsecondary education and work. The benchmarks are cumulative, describing what students need to learn by the end of high school.

States requested more detail about the progression of content and skills students would need to master through the grades in order to meet the end-of-high school ADP benchmarks. To address this, Achieve has "backmapped" the ADP benchmarks in mathematics from grade 12 down through Kindergarten, and in English from grade 12 down through grade 4.

Achieve’s English and Communications Benchmarks, Grades 4 – 12, can be accessed here.

Achieve's Mathematics Benchmarks, Grades K – 12 are organized into three parts:

• Elementary Mathematics Benchmarks, Grades K – 6
• Secondary Mathematics Benchmarks, Grades 7 – 12
• ADP benchmarks in Mathematics for the end of high school