This is an alignment study comparing four sets of national college readiness standards in the English-language arts. College readiness has emerged a critical national issue in education. Since 2003, four sets of college readiness standards, intended for use nationally, have been introduced. These are the American Diploma Project (ADP; Achieve, 2004), the ACT College Readiness Standards (ACT; ACT, 2008), the College Board College Readiness Standards (CB; The College Board, 2008), and the Standards for Success (S4S; Conley, 2003). Despite a common goal, the four publications are substantively different. This study uses ADP as the benchmark for comparing these standards. The remaining three documents (ACT, CB, S4S) will each be aligned independently with ADP, with content ratings and cognitive complexity ratings for aligned standards statements. The large alignment matrix will allow comparisons to be made among the four standards in terms of general structure, content emphasis and the level of cognitive demands
What is College Readiness for the English Language Arts? An Examination of Four National Definitions.