Virginia's College and Career Readiness Initiative
Author: Virginia Department of Education
Date: 2010-09-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Academic Achievement,State Standards,Program Implementation,College Readiness,Program Development,Program Effectiveness,Postsecondary Education,College Faculty,Educational Research,Career Readiness,Academic Standards,Educational Indicators

In 1995, Virginia began a broad educational reform program that resulted in revised, rigorous content standards, the Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL), in the content areas of English, mathematics, science, and history and social science. These grade-by-grade and course-based standards were developed over 14 months with revision teams including K-12 teachers and administrators, higher education representatives, community and agency partners, and citizen groups. The four sets of standards were revised in two recent revision windows, 2001-2003 and again in 2008-2010, as required by legislation of the Virginia General Assembly. In addition to the standards in the four core subjects, Virginia has SOL for all of its content areas, including foreign languages, fine arts, health, physical education, driver education, and computer technology. In January 2007, the Board of Education authorized the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) to conduct studies to determine factors contributing to success in postsecondary education. As part of that effort, the Department of Education requested Achieve, the American Diploma Project (ADP), the College Board, and ACT to conduct studies comparing their respective standards for postsecondary readiness to the Virginia SOL in English/Reading and Mathematics. In 2009 and 2010, respectively, the Virginia Board of Education adopted revised SOL in mathematics and English. The revised standards reflect the substantial input and recommended changes provided by college faculty and other experts from the College Board, ACT, the ADP, and the business community. These groups support Virginia's revisions and have validated the standards as college and career ready. The Virginia College and Career Readiness Initiative builds on the revised standards and is designed to: (1) Ensure that college and career ready learning standards in reading, writing, and mathematics are taught in every Virginia high school classroom; and (2) Strengthen students' preparation for college and the work force before leaving high school. As part of the initiative, Virginia has been engaged in a research program designed to understand the associations between performance on Virginia's statewide assessments and enrollment and performance in postsecondary education. Through this research, VDOE has identified indicators of college readiness that are independently associated with a high probability of enrollment and persistence in four-year postsecondary institutions from across the country. This document describes the Virginia College and Career Readiness Initiative and provides results of research conducted thus far that inform the process. Associations Between Student Achievement and Postsecondary Enrollment in Virginia: Highlights of Recent Analyses are appended. (Contains 12 footnotes.)