A key aspect of the American Diploma Project (ADP) work is that the benchmarks are grounded in empirical evidence of what employers and educators actually require of employees and students. The postsecondary assignments vividly illustrate the practical application of the "must-have" competencies described in the benchmarks themselves, helping states answer questions such as "Why do I have to learn this stuff?"

As work continues, ADP will add to the postsecondary assignments on the website to illustrate examples of the ADP benchmarks being used in other courses.

The postsecondary assignments are not meant to describe the quality and complexity of high school assignments. Although the benchmarks and assignments may be used in the future to inform the development of high school lessons, the assignments included here are designed simply to illustrate the intellectual rigor of real-world environments beyond high school and the applicability of the ADP benchmarks in postsecondary settings.

The postsecondary assignments were gathered primarily from two- and four-year postsecondary institutions in the five ADP partner states (Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Nevada and Texas), representing a broad range of English, mathematics, humanities, science and social science coursework. Assignments include:

• Assignment #1: College Algebra and Calculus
• Assignment #2: Introductory Chemistry
• Assignment #3: Introductory Microeconomics
• Assignment #4: Introductory English Survey Course
• Assignment #5: Introductory Philosophy
• Assignment #6: Introductory English
• Web-Only Assignment #1: Introductory Physical Sciences
• Web-Only Assignment #2: Introductory Engineering
• Web-Only Assignment #3: Introductory Economics
• Web-Only Assignment #4: Introductory English

Most real postsecondary assignments require students to use knowledge and skills that are contained in more than one ADP benchmark. Mastering individual skills without understanding their connections to other skills both within and across content areas is inconsistent with what is expected beyond high school, according to those who participated in the research. The assignments thus illustrate the need to integrate and apply more than one benchmark at a time.

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.

See "How To Use the ADP Benchmarks and Samples" for more.