Preparing Students for College and Careers

Katie Larsen McClarty is chief assessment officer at Questar Assessments. She oversees item and test development, publishing, psychometrics, and research. Her own research centers on assessment design, college readiness, standard setting, and gifted education.Krista D. Mattern is a director of ACT’s Statistical and Applied Research Department. Her research focuses on evaluating the validity and fairness of both cognitive and noncognitive measures for predicting student success. She is also interested in higher education issues such as college choice, major selection, and college completion. Matthew N. Gaertner is a principal research Scientist in SRI International’s Center for Education Policy. His research focuses on college and career readiness and the effects of educational policies and reforms on disadvantaged students’ access, persistence, and achievement.

• Foreword by Mitchell D. ChesterAcknowledgementsIntroduction by Katie Larsen McClarty, Matthew N. Gaertner, & Krista D. MatternSection 1: Defining and Measuring College and Career ReadinessChapter 1: The New Complexity of Readiness for College and Careers by David T. ConleyChapter 2: Conceptualizing and Measuring Progress towards College and Career Readiness in Mathematics by William McCallum and James W. Pellegrino.Chapter 3: More than a Test Score: Defining and Measuring Personal Qualities by Matthew N. Gaertner and Richard D. RobertsChapter 4: The Consistent Influence of General Cognitive Ability in College, Career, and Lifetime Achievement by Jonathan Wai, Frank C. Worrell, and Christopher F. ChabrisSection 2: Validating College- and Career-Readiness Performance LevelsChapter 5: Building External Validity into the Process: Evidence-Based Readiness Standards by Katie Larsen McClarty, Susan Cooper Loomis, and Mary J. PitoniakChapter 6: Empirically-Based College- and Career-Readiness Cut Scores and Performance Standards by Wayne J. Camara, Jeff M. Allen, and Joann L. MooreChapter 7: College Placement Strategies: Evolving Considerations and Practices by Elisabeth Barnett and Vikash ReddyChapter 8: Fairness Issues in the Assessment of College and Career Readiness by Rebecca ZwickChapter 9: Mixed Messages: When Different Assessments Yield Different Results by Krista D. Mattern and Matthew N. GaertnerSection 3: Improving College and Career ReadinessChapter 10: Early Intervention in College and Career Readiness: The GEAR UP Model and its Implications for 21st Century Education Policy by Chrissy Tillery and Brent DuckorChapter 11: Multiple Mathematics Pathways to College, Careers, and Beyond by Francesca Fraga Leahy and Carolyn LandelChapter 12: Supporting College and Career Readiness through Social Psychological Interventions by Kathryn M. Kroeper and Mary C. MurphyChapter 13: Changing the Assessment Relationship to Empower Teachers and Students by Margaret HeritageConclusion: Future Directions for College- and Career-Readiness Research: Where do we go from Here? By Krista D. Mattern, Matthew N. Gaertner, & Katie Larsen McClartyList of Contributors