Statement by Michael Cohen, President, Achieve, Inc.

Release of Crisis at the Core: Preparing All Students for College and Work

Thursday, October 14, 2004 - Crisis at the Core: Preparing All Students for College and Work is a carefully conducted and extremely important study. ACT’s findings are a powerful reminder that taking a rigorous curriculum in high school is the best preparation for college and work – and that far too few of today’s high school students are taking the necessary courses. Students, with the encouragement of their parents, should enroll in challenging, college-prep courses, including advanced math and science. These courses must be expanded to ensure that all students keep open their options for postsecondary education, skilled jobs and higher wages.

State officials have a critical responsibility in this effort. They must abandon antiquated coursetaking requirements for earning a high school diploma and instead provide all students with a common, rigorous, college- and work-prep curriculum. States do students no favor by permitting them to earn a high school diploma by taking a watered-down curriculum.

The findings in the ACT study reinforce the recommendations of Achieve’s American Diploma Project, released last February. , the report of a $2.4 million, two-year study, identified the essential mathematics and English skills a high school graduate must have to be academically prepared for college or work. Ready or Not found an unprecedented convergence between the knowledge and skills employers seek in new workers and those that college faculty expect of entering students. To succeed in both postsecondary education and work, high school graduates must be prepared to complete a significant research report and apply the high-level math concepts taught in Algebra II, for example.

The ADP benchmarks are ambitious. In math, they reflect content from Algebra I and II, Geometry, and Data Analysis and Statistics. In English, they demand strong communications skills, as well as the analytic and reasoning skills typically associated with today’s advanced and honors classes.

No state yet requires all high school students to master the English and math skills identified by the American Diploma Project to earn a high school diploma. Through the American Diploma Project, Achieve is working with states to restore the value of the high school diploma by putting in place the standards, assessments and curriculum that will prepare young people for college and work.