Education Pipeline Data

Find out how this state is doing in preparing young people for college and work:

• View state-specific data (.ppt) on the education pipeline.

Survey Results

	Align high school standards with college and workplace expectations	Align high school graduation requirements with college and workplace expectations	Administer college readiness test to all high school students	Develop a P-16 longitudinal data system	Hold high schools accountable for graduating students college- and career-ready
Missouri

Access more Closing the Expectations Gap 2008 survey results here.

Achieve's report for Missouri:

At the request of the state's K–12 Commission, Achieve analyzed the degree of alignment between Missouri's mathematics and communication arts high school standards and the ACT assessment in math, reading and English. (The ACT is one of two large organizations that offer college entrance tests, the other being the SAT.) Achieve also estimated the degree of augmentation required (additional content that may be needed) if the ACT were to serve as Missouri's high school test.

Since alignment is a two-way street, Achieve asked two questions: Do all the items on the ACT match a Missouri standard? How well does the ACT assess the key knowledge and skills described by Missouri's standards?

We found that nearly all of the items on the ACT assessment in math, reading and English match a Missouri standard. We also found that the ACT covers the knowledge and skills described by Missouri standards fairly well but not completely — some augmentation may be necessary if the ACT is to serve as Missouri's high school graduation test. For example, since the ACT contains only multiple-choice items, to cover its standards more fully, Missouri might want to add open-ended items in math that require students to generate rather than select their answers. (Open-ended items are geared to assessing content difficult to test with multiple-choice questions, such as problem solving that requires strategic thinking — a skill common to today's workplace.) In communication arts there are key differences between Missouri's standards and the ACT for the state to consider. Missouri standards require students to produce rather than edit writing and place more emphasis on literature than does the ACT. Also, the ACT makes use of reading passages that are all fairly demanding, whereas the state may want to have a wider range to capture the skills of less able readers.

Alignment analyses inevitably uncover ways in which states can make their standards stronger. Achieve recommends Missouri revise its grade level expectations (GLEs) in math to show how knowledge and skills increase in rigor from grade to grade. Making expectations explicit and anchoring them with examples — a process the state has already begun — will make the state's intent transparent. In revising its communication arts GLEs, we suggest Missouri look to Achieve's ADP and state benchmarks for guidance in constructing a learning curve that will have students fully prepared to confront college courses and today's employment opportunities.

• Alignment Analysis of the ACT Test to Missouri's Grade-Level Expectations Internal Report (January 2005)