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Title: Reaching the Goal:  The Applicability and Importance of the Common Core State Standards to College and Career Readiness.Source: EPIC Educational Policy Improvement CenterAuthors: David Conley et al A new analysis from Educational Policy improvement Center (EPIC) indicates that mastering the Common Core Standards have the baseline knowledge and skills necessary for college work.

The U.S. Department of Education (ED) was created in 1980 by combining offices from several federal agencies. As a whole it is dedicated to: - Establishing policies on federal financial aid for education, and distributing as well as monitoring those funds. - Collecting data on America's schools and disseminating research. - Focusing national attention on key educational issues. - Prohibiting discrimination and ensuring equal access to education.

The recent NACEP conference was mentioned in the forum, The How of Policy for Early College: different models being called early college

From About NACEP, "The National Alliance of Concurrent Enrollment Partnerships is a professional organization for high schools and colleges that advances seamless education through secondary and post-secondary collaborations." The organization has arms for both research and policy (at the state and federal levels).

The Education Trust promotes high academic achievement for all students, from pre-K through college, with a focus on the underserved. The organization is involved at all levels, from working alongside students, parents, educators and local community leaders throughout the country, through participating in national policy debates.

*Publications

Early College High School Initiative "partner organizations...have started or redesigned more than 230 schools in 28 states and the District of Columbia." Their Publications tab offers resources on creating an early college high school, as well as policy issues.

The Foundation offers both teaching and higher education fellowships, and offers program and research in the areas of policy and practice.

Published by the American Youth Policy Forum in conjunction with Gateway to College National Network and National Youth Employment Coalition.

The truth about how to create sustainable conditions for powerful teaching and learning is bred in the bones of schools rather than the brains of researchers or policy-makers. Motivated by this belief, new and restructuring schools that aim to incorporate the CES Common Principles forge connections with other Coalition schools. They rely on each other for support, mutual learning, and perspective.

By David T. Conley, prepared for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation by EPIC (Educational Policy Improvement Center), March 2007. Includes four in comprehensive definition of college readinessGoal is to provide a standard,operational definition of college readiness. (PDF)

Miami Dade, which has more than 90,000 students, for example, decided to require those who place into developmental courses to take a "success" course that teaches basic study and time-management skills. That requirement helped to double graduation rates for the college's minority students. Valencia, seeing data that students who added classes late had poor completion rates, instituted a policy barring students from registering for classes that have already met. To maintain some flexi­bility, the college introduced "flex start" sections, which begin a month into the semester. Another excerpt: Faculty-Led Efforts Faculty buy-in is another crucial component to colleges' meeting their completion goals. Finalists for the Aspen Prize all had faculty members strongly dedicated to teaching-and conducting research on teaching methods. "What we heard a lot from faculty was, 'How can I find better ways to deliver instruction to my students?'" Mr. Wyner says. As part of the tenure process at Valencia, full-time faculty develop three-year "action research projects" on teaching techniques that involve training courses, advisers, and peer-review panels. The faculty members test teaching strategies, assessing students' performance against that of control groups. Ideas that work find a place in the classroom. In one project, a professor tried giving individual lab assignments to developmental-reading students, rather than a blanket assignment for all students. The new method worked better, the professor determined, and all sections of that course on Valencia's East Campus now use that model of instruction. Valencia is not the only college where faculty drive the innovation. At Miami Dade, faculty members banded together to improve students' pass rates in math, choosing and testing several new teaching methods. Some showed promise, such as testing algebra students more often on smaller amounts of material, a practice that continued.

A regional organization of 15 Western states created to facilitate resource sharing among these states' higher education institutions. Offers student exchange programs, regional initiatives, and research and policy work.

The Community College Research Center (CCRC) is part of the Insitute on Education and the Economy, Teacher's College, Columbia University. From their site: "CCRC"s mission is to conduct research on major issues affecting community colleges in the United States and to contribute to the development of practice and policy that expands access to higher education and promotes success for all students."

Research studies and other resources. Pathways To College Network is an "alliance of national organizations that advances college opportunity for underserved students by raising public awareness, supporting innovative research and promoting evidence-based policies and practices across the K-12 and higher education sectors."

By Kevin Carey in Democracy: A Journal of Ideas, Issue #15, Winter 2010. In this editorial, Carey (policy director of think tank Education Sector) argues that colleges are not fulfilling their mission to students: costs are rising and students are not learning (or even graduating). He argues for transparency and studies of the effectiveness of teaching and learning, and warns of the education-related lobbies that keep the rest of us in the dark about higher education.

Washington, DC-based national policy and advocacy organization that works to improve national and federal policy so that all students can achieve at high academic levels and graduate from high school ready for success in college, work, and citizenship in the twenty-first century.

Organization founded to provide long-term leadership and support the progressive movement.

AASA is a professional association with over 13,000 members, from all members of school administration. The organization provides advocacy and policy support, as well as professional development.

From their home page, "Connecticut Voices for Children promotes the well-being of all Connecticut's young people and their families by advocating for strategic public investments and wise public policies."

The Common Core organization wants to improve education in America. To do so, they're "promoting programs, policies, and initiatives at the local, state, and federal levels that provide students with challenging, rigorous instruction in the full range of liberal arts and sciences."

Regularly updated information provided by Center on Education Policy (CEP). This state-by-state list details which states have applied (or plain to apply) for waivers to No Child Left Behind (NCLB), as announced by Education Secretary Arne Duncan in August 2011.