Summary

This report documented the development of a holistic framework that provides a more complete description of education and work readiness. Development of this framework was based on research conducted at ACT over the last fifty years, emerging knowledge in this area, a comprehensive review of relevant theory, education and work standards, empirical research, input from experts in the field, and a variety of other sources. During our review, it became clear that a holistic framework for education and work readiness should include knowledge and skills in at least four broad domains:  core academic skills, cross-cutting capabilities, behavioral skills, and education and career navigation skills. The research evidence presented throughout the report supports the notion that all four of these broad domains are important for understanding academic and workplace success. The report also begins to build an integrated view of education and work readiness and provides some examples of how these domains and their specific constructs relate to important outcomes. A better understanding of how these domains work together has implications for understanding readiness and for providing students with better, more meaningful feedback. For example, many students struggle academically yet are motivated to persist and eventually earn a college degree. In contrast, other students who are academically prepared but not invested in college drop out in the first semester. If we focus solely on academic constructs, or assessments currently in place in schools (e.g., ELA and mathematics), or on constructs easiest to measure with traditional methods, we will continue to define readiness in a narrow and constrained manner.

We hope the reader will take away a few central findings and ideas from this report and other research conducted by ACT on college and career readiness. Preparation for college, careers or life requires skills and competencies from multiple domains. Academic skills, whether focused solely on math and reading, or more broadly to include science, are clearly essential to most definitions of postsecondary success, but alone they are not sufficient to ensure success. The specific skills needed in a domain like math may differ somewhat across majors or occupations, and our assessments and benchmarks need to be sensitive to these complexities even when one size fits all is more convenient for accountability. We invite the reader to examine the complexities associated with behavioral skills, how their manifestations change with growth and development over time, and how important behavioral skills are for success in any environment or context. Finally, we hope the reader recognizes the role that cross-cutting cognitive skills play in learning, self-direction, and a positive predisposition to lifelong learning, as well as how important education and career navigation skills are to progressing along the continuum from school to college to career. It is our belief that a holistic examination of college and career readiness such as this can improve outcomes that lead to education and workplace success.