After 24 years in the K-12 education space, Achieve has shut its doors. Read the statement from Michael Cohen, President of Achieve here.
Our website www.achieve.org will remain available through December 31, 2020.
Former Achieve science team members have founded the NextGenScience project at WestEd where they will continue working with educators and partners across the nation to improve the quality of science education. Please visit their website and @NextGenScience to learn more about their work. They will continue to serve as stewards of the NGSS, sharing resources with the field through the nextgenscience.org website, NGSSNow newsletter, and @OfficialNGS.
All students should graduate from high school ready for college, careers, and citizenship.


When they were released in 2004, the ADP Benchmarks reflected an unprecedented convergence in what employers and postsecondary faculty say are needed for new employees and for freshmen entering credit-bearing coursework to be successful.
Beginning in 2001, 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 - published in Ready or Not: Creating a High School Diploma that Counts - 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. Today, they stand as the pre-cursor to the Common Core State Standards.
English Language Arts
- About the ADP English and Communications Benchmarks
- The end-of-high school ADP English Benchmarks strands
- View back-mapped benchmarks by grade span (4-5, 6-8, 9-10, 11-12)
- View back-mapped benchmarks by strands across the grades
Mathematics
- Elementary Mathematics Benchmarks, Grades K – 6
- Secondary Mathematics Benchmarks, Grades 7 – 12, by strand
- Model Course Sequences
- Middle School Model Two-Year Sequence
- Middle School Model One-Year Advanced Course
- High School Model Three-Year Traditional Plus Course Sequence (Algebra I, Geometry, Algebra II)
- High School Model Three-Year Integrated Course Sequence (Integrated Mathematics 1, 2, 3)
- Model Course Sequences
- Mathematics Benchmarks, Grades K-12: Writers and Reviewers
Core Proficiencies