Postsecondary Pipelines│College and Career Readiness and Success Center
States and districts can support successful transition from secondary to postsecondary education and career pathways by ensuring academic standards are meaningful for all students and aligned with postsecondary entrance requirements. The following resources from the College and Career Readiness and Success Center highlight some strategies such as competency-based education that states and districts can consider ensuring students are ready for postsecondary success.
Key Postsecondary Pipelines Work
Workforce Pell: Expanding Access to Short Term Job Training
Pell Grants have historically been limited to longer-term degree and certificate programs, but now Workforce Pell Grants expand Pell eligibility to shorter-term training programs. AIR is advancing early‑stage efforts to support effective Workforce Pell implementation, with an emphasis on helping states and institutions translate new approval, data, and accountability requirements into practice.
CBE 360 Survey Toolkit
The CBE 360 Survey Toolkit, developed by AIR with support from the Nellie Mae Education Foundation, uses surveys from an AIR CBE study to provide a comprehensive picture of CBE implementation in six research-based core areas: learning targets, measurement of learning, instructional approaches and supports, assessment of learning, pacing and progression, and when and where learning takes place. Users can then identify areas of strength and need in order to realize the full potential of CBE.
Competency-Based Education: Staying Shallow or Going Deep?
In order to be successful in the 21st century, students will need to master an expanded set of competencies that extends beyond discrete academic standards. Competency-based education focuses on mastery of these competencies—rather than seat time—as a measure of student learning. This brief explores how states and districts can define learner competencies that reflect the full range of knowledge, skills, and dispositions necessary for students to achieve college and career readiness.
