Achieve's College and Career Readiness Quiz

It’s actually all three. Recent grads told us in our 2014 survey that real-world learning opportunities, better communication about necessary courses, and opportunities to enroll in challenging courses were the top three things that would have encouraged them to work harder and be better prepared for life after high school.

Incorrect. 74% of new college students who feel their high school set high expectations felt extremely or very well prepared for college, compared with only 36% of those who say they experienced low expectations. For more, check out the full set of student survey results.

That’s right. While most were satisfied with students’ computer and technology skills, more than 75% of college faculty were displeased with their students’ critical thinking, written communication, and work and study habits. Check out faculty and employers’ full impression of recent high school grads here.

Not quite – unfortunately, many students to not have equal access to CCR courses. Just 63% of high schools offer physics courses. For more stats on course availability, see page 13 of our 2014 Closing the Expectations Gap report.

Wrong – only one out of four recent high school grads reported that they felt their high school set high academic expectations. See everything the students had to say in our full Rising to the Challenge survey results.

No. Unfortunately, just 23 states and the District of Columbia have raised their course requirements in ELA/literacy and mathematics to the CCR level. See page 7 of Achieve’s 2014 Closing the Expectations Gap report for more details. 

Correct! The development of the Common Core State Standards was a state-driven process, led by governors and state commissioners of education from 48 states through their membership organizations (the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers). For the full background on how the Common Core came to be, check out this website.

Correct! Across both consortia, no student was denied graduation / a diploma based on his or her PARCC or Smarter Balanced scores.  For more details, see page 25 of our 2014 Closing the Expectations Gap report.