Ccri

© 2009 by the Educational Policy Improvement Center. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Any use of materials on this website, including reproduction, modification, distribution or republication, without the prior written consent of EPIC, is strictly prohibited.

Texas College and Career
Readiness Initiative
Overview: Standards and Implementation

Dr. Charis McGaughy

Director Strategic Partnerships and Project Development
Educational Policy Improvement Center


Session Outcomes

1.  Participants are aware of the College and Career
Readiness Standards (CCRS);
2.  Participants are familiar with the statewide
activities to support the implementation of the
CCRS; and
3.  Participants understand the need for coordinated
efforts at the local level to improve college and
career readiness for all students using the CCRS

2


Who is the Texas Higher Education
Coordinating Board (THECB)?
Created by the Texas Legislature in 1965 to:
•  Promote quality education across the state
•  Develop roles and missions of public institutions of
higher education (IHEs)
•  Encourage and develop technical and vocational
education programs
•  Develop and promulgate a basic core of general
academic courses
•  Advocate for IHEs and their students
3


Who is the Texas Education Agency (TEA)?
Established in 1949 as the state's administrative agent to
supervise the public school system
•  provides leadership, guidance, and resources to help public schools meet
the educational needs of all students, including research and information

•  oversees development of the statewide curriculum and manages the
textbook adoption process

•  administers the statewide assessment program and accountability
system

•  maintains data collection system on public school students, staff, and
finances

•  monitors for compliance with federal guidelines and serves as a fiscal
agent for state and federal funds
4


Who is the Educational Policy
Improvement Center (EPIC)?
•  David Conley, Founder, CEO, and Principal Investigator
•  EPICʼs Mission: Nonproﬁt research center to help policymakers
and educators do a better job of using educational policy as a
tool to improve schooling and student learning
•  EPIC supports research on a range of issues in the  
following areas:
–  College readiness deﬁnition and standards
–  High school-to-college alignment tools and strategies
–  Course document analysis
–  Adequacy funding
–  Large-scale assessment models
–  Other policy initiatives designed to improve student success

5


High School Diploma or College and Career
Readiness?
•  State K-12 education policy has tended to focus on increasing
the high school graduation rate as one significant measure of
“closing the achievement gap”
•  Unfortunately, a high school diploma does not prepare its
recipients for any specific future
–  Jobs requiring a high school diploma do not require the skills
we would like to believe a high school graduate should have
•  In the current economic environment, a high school diploma as
a terminal degree presents a false sense of hope and
accomplishment to its recipients
•  State education policy should focus on preparing all students for
readiness to learn beyond high school
–  This is a higher bar than todayʼs high school diploma

6


Ever Increasing Importance

“The financial crisis, not only in the U.S., but
worldwide, has convinced Houstonians they need to
continue their studies at major universities or improve
their skills and enhance their technical education to be
competitive to re-enter local industries and businesses
when new jobs become available.”

Chancellor Mary Spangler, Houston Community College
Houston Chronicle, January 31 2009
7


Why Is It Important for More Students
to Be College and Career Ready?
•  Two-thirds of high school grads go directly to college, three-
quarters within five years of graduation
–  The numbers are forecast to continue to increase
•  Large numbers end up in remedial courses or fail to persist
beyond the first year
–  From 20% to 80%, depending on the institution type, end up in
remediation
–  First-generation college attendees comprise a disproportionate
number of remedial placements and non-persisters
•  The proportion of first-generation college attendees will continue
to increase as far into the future as we can project
–  These students need a different kind of preparation
–  They need access to “privileged knowledge”
–  They need more conﬁdence that they are ready

8


Over 40% of all new Texas students in 2005
required developmental education.

Source: THECB Developmental Education Data Profile 2005

9


A New Deﬁnition of College and Career
Ready
•  The level of preparation a student needs in order to enroll and
succeed—without remediation—in credit-bearing general
education courses that meet requirements for a baccalaureate
degree
•  “Succeed” is defined as completing entry-level courses at a level
of understanding and proficiency sufficient to:
–  pass a subsequent course in the subject area
–  apply course knowledge to another context

•  This definition presents high schools with a clear target for
preparation: expectations students will encounter in first-year
college courses, including students pursuing technical
certificates

10


The Four Key Dimensions of
College Readiness

11


Four Key Dimensions of
College Readiness
•  Key Cognitive Strategies
–  Analytic reasoning, problem solving, inquisitiveness, precision,
interpretation, evaluating claims
•  Key Content Knowledge
–  Writing skills, algebraic concepts, key foundational content and
“big ideas” from core subjects
•  Academic Behaviors (self-management)
–  Persistence, time management, study group use, awareness of
performance
•  Contextual Skills and Awareness (“college knowledge”)
–  Admissions requirements, cost of college, purpose and
opportunities of college, types of colleges, college culture,
interacting with professors

12


The Texas College and Career
Readiness Standards


Structure of the CCRS
•  Hierarchical structure
-  Represents the structure of the discipline and subject
areas within the discipline
-  Emphasizes that college readiness is about
understanding the organizing concepts of the subject
area along with speciﬁc skills
•  Three levels plus examples
-  Key Content: organizing structure of the subject area
  Organizing Components: conceptual topics
o  Performance Expectations: general goals
*  Performance Indicators: example student performances*
  Not part of CCRS, but included as possible examples of student
performance; not a deﬁnitive list of all possible performances

14


Reviewing the Texas College and Career
Readiness Standards

Take a few minutes to review
–  the introductory section
–  the explanatory section for the cross-disciplinary
standards
–  the overall structure of the cross-disciplinary
standards

15


Cross-Disciplinary Standards

•  These standards represent cognitive strategies and
skills that span the subject areas and that instructors
believe are critical to postsecondary success
•  These standards should always be considered in the
context of challenging content, and never be viewed
as skills to be taught separate from appropriate
content

16


Standard: Construct well-reasoned
arguments to explain phenomena, validate
conjectures, or support positions.
Examples of ways to teach and assess the standard
1.  Participate in a debate that is based on fact and has a logical
structure.
2.  Construct a visual representation, including hypothesis, data,
results, and conclusion.
3.  Write a paper that addresses counter arguments to advocated
positions.
4.  Recognize and apply techniques of statistical and probabilistic
analysis to judge reliability of information.
5.  Deconstruct an advocacy position paper by sorting its arguments
into those based on fact and those based on opinion.

17


Cross-Disciplinary Standards Activity

•  Review one of the Cross-Disciplinary
Standards and explore how it could be taught
or assessed
•  There are no “right” or “wrong” answers

18


The Texas College and Career
Readiness Initiative


Texas College and Career Readiness
Initiative (TCCRI)
•  Three-year project sponsored by TEA and THECB to improve
alignment between secondary and postsecondary education:
–  Phase I: Developing CCRS (joint TEA/THECB)
–  Phase II:
•  Validating the CCRS (THECB)
•  Gap Analysis (TEA)
–  Phase III:
•  Developing Reference Courses and Senior Assignments (THECB)
•  Designing professional development, instructional strategies, and
online student materials (TEA)
–  Phase IV: Piloting High School Senior-level Assignments (THECB)
•  Related Projects:
–  Career and Technical Education Alignment Analysis
–  Texas Test Alignment Project
–  Texas CCRS Regional Meetings

20


Phase 1: Developing College and Career
Readiness Standards (Completed January 2008)
•  College Readiness Standards (CCRS) mandated by HB1
•  Sponsored by TEA and THECB
•  Developed by Vertical Teams (secondary and
postsecondary faculty)
•  Four meetings February-August, 2007
–  Homework and reﬁnements between meetings
•  Presented to THECB 10/25/07 in draft form
•  Public comment period from 10/15-12/10/07
–  Supporting technical analyses
•  Adopted by THECB in Jan. 2008
•  Sent to the Commissioner of Education and State Board
of Education for incorporation into the TEKS in Apr. 2008

21


Differences Between HS Graduation
and College Readiness Standards
•  They have different reference points:
•  HS standards focus upon HS graduation
•  CCRS focus upon credit bearing, entry-level general
education coursework
•  HS standards tend to focus more on content
knowledge and are the basis for state testing or
accountability requirements
•  CCRS represent current practice in entry-level college
courses and focus on both content knowledge and
key cognitive strategies

22


Phase II: Validating the College and
Career Readiness Standards
(Completed October 2008)
•  Course Nominations: 108 TX two- and four-year
postsecondary institutions agreed to collect course
nominations that best represented the CCRS
•  Course Submissions: 813* instructors completed a
course proﬁle, uploaded a syllabus, and compared the
CCRS to their course
•  Alignment Analysis: 930 syllabi were submitted to
determine how the CCRS compare to common practice
and identify the common components of entry-level
courses
*Note: many instructors submitted for more than 1 course

23


Speciﬁc Entry-Level Courses Analyzed
ELA Mathematics Science Social Studies
Composition I College Algebra Biology for Science American Government I
Majors I OR Federal
Government
Composition II Math for Business Biology for Non- American Government
Social Sciences I Majors I II OR Texas
Government
World Elementary Anatomy and U.S. History I
Literature Statistical Methods Physiology I
Intro to Chemistry I U.S. History II
General Chemistry General Psychology
College Physics I
Elementary Physics I

24


Course Submissions by Region and
Institution Type (partial and complete)

25

Alignment Analysis Results
To what degree are the Texas CCRS aligned
with what is currently being taught in Texas
entry level college courses?
Subject area % of standards
aligned

ENGLISH (120 standards) 97%
MATHEMATICS (169 standards) 87%
SCIENCE (137 standards) 85%
SOCIAL STUDIES (127 standards) 99%
CROSS-DISCIPLINARY (58 standards) 100%

Note: In addition to subject speciﬁc standards, all courses also
examined the cross-disciplinary standards

26

Conclusion

•  The College and Career Readiness Standards were
validated as reflecting expectations for readiness in a
cross-section of representative entry-level college
courses from all levels of the state’s postsecondary
system
•  Additional studies will be undertaken to improve
alignment in areas below 95%

27

Career and Technical Education (CTE)
Alignment Analysis (to be completed Winter 2009)
Alignment Analysis: collect syllabi to determine how the CCRS
compare to common practice and identify the common components
of 11 CTE courses. CTE Courses to be analyzed:
•  Introduction to Computers •  Technical Drafting (DFTG 1405)
(ITSC 1301) •  Principles of Management
•  Introduction to Computers (BMGT 1303)
(ITSC 1401) •  Introduction to Accounting I
•  Applied Anatomy and (ACNT 1303)
Physiology (SCIT 1407) •  Computer Applications I (POFI
•  Applied Anatomy and 1301)
Physiology (SCIT 1408) •  Business English (POFT 1301)
•  Basic CAD (DFTG 1309) •  Principles of Marketing (MRKG
1311)

28

Uses of College and Career Readiness
Standards
College and Career Readiness Standards can be used:
•  to help high schools set the challenge level and
content necessary for college and career
readiness
•  as the reference point to design aligned HS and
college courses
•  to create a more rigorous senior year
•  to prepare student for workforce skills and
expectations
•  to help higher education increase course
consistency
•  to develop better college placement criteria
29

Contact Information

•  Educational Policy Improvement Center
(EPIC)
•  Toll-free: 877-766-2279
•  Email: tx_ccrs@epiconline.org
•  URL: http://www.epiconline.org/
texas_college_readiness_standards

30

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