College and Career Ready: Helping All Students Succeed Beyond High School

College and career readiness for all students is an idea whose time has come. Across the nation, increasing numbers of high schools are working to prepare more students to pursue learning beyond high school—whether or not they go to college. This marks a dramatic shift from the old view that college and vocational preparation were two separate tracks and that formal learning had an endpoint. Now it's clear that whether entering college or a vocational position, all students need to be prepared with new skills and knowledge that adequately prepare them for the challenges they will face in today's complex and competitive academic and workplace environments.

College and Career Ready offers educators and policymakers a better understanding of the rationale and methods necessary to redesign high schools so that they focus on both college and career readiness. In addition, it contains a variety of practical methods by which high school faculty can adapt their programs of instruction in the direction of enhanced college/career readiness and thereby meet the needs of all their students. This includes helping students develop the cognitive strategies and content knowledge they will need to succeed. The book also considers the impact of key behaviors necessary foracademic success—such as time management and study habits. Numerous case examples highlight practices in schools that are doing these things well.

Step by step, David T. Conley—an expert in the field of educational policy—presents detailed, practical evidence and strategic guidelines high schools can use as a framework for improving alignment with postsecondary success. By putting in place recommendations outlined in College and Career Ready, schools will be providing students the tools they need to succeed in college, work, and life.

College and Career Ready offers educators a blueprint for improving high school so that more students are able to excel in freshman-level college courses or entry-level jobs-laying a solid foundation for lifelong growth and success. The book is filled with detailed, practical guidelines and case descriptions of what the best high schools are doing.

The book considers the impact of behavioral issues-such as time management and study habits-as well as academic skills on college readiness.

David T. Conley is professor of Educational Policy and Leadership at the University of Oregon; founder and director of the Center for Educational Policy Research at the University of Oregon; and founder and CEO of the Educational Policy Improvement Center in Eugene, Oregon. For more information, go to www.CollegeCareerReady.org or www.epiconline.org.