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The report examines college and career readiness outcomes by tracking students who begin far off track over two four-year windows (grades 8–12 and grades 4–8). Using EXPLORE results for eighth graders and college readiness benchmarks in reading, mathematics, and science, it quantifies who is on track, off track, and far off track, then estimates how many reach later benchmarks.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":20,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/exam/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/catching-up-to-college-and-career-readiness/528744/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/catching-up-to-college-and-career-readiness/528744.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Cipher","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-29","2026-10-09",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":19},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"Why does the report emphasize starting gap-prevention efforts earlier?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"Closing academic preparation gaps is described as difficult and time-consuming. Underestimating this can lead to underfunding, unrealistic accountability targets, or intervening too late.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"How does the report define On Track, Off Track, and Far Off Track students?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"Students are grouped by EXPLORE performance relative to the College Readiness Benchmark: On Track met the benchmark, Off Track missed it by one standard deviation or less, and Far Off Track scored more than one standard deviation below.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"What does the report measure to indicate how hard it is to close the gaps?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"It uses the percentage of students who reach college and career readiness targets over a four-year period as an indicator of the difficulty of reaching those targets.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},528744,1791593364,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":19,"category_name":20,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":19,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":139,"language":140,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":144,"read_time":41,"preview_page_count":4},687208528416,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_9964176cb1d06d4a9deccf72a44ae3dc","Catching Up To  \nCollege and Career Readiness  \n1 Introduction  \n2 Catching Up in Grades 8–12  \n3 Catching Up Grades 4–8  \n4 Conclusion  \nPolicy discussions about preventing and closing academic preparation gaps should be informed by a realistic view of the difficulty of closing these gaps.  \nIntroduction  \nI  \nn recent years educators and policymakers have set a goal that students graduate from high school ready for college and careers. However, as a nation we are far from achieving this goal, particularly for low-income and  \nminority students. For example, in states where all eleventh-graders take the ACT® , only 27 percent of low-income students in 2010 met the ACT College Readiness Benchmark in reading, with 16 percent meeting the Benchmark in mathematics, and 11 percent meeting the Benchmark in science.1  \nEfforts to improve students’ academic preparation have often been directed at the high-school level, although for many students, gaps in academic preparation begin much earlier. Large numbers of disadvantaged students enter kindergarten behind in early reading and mathematics skills, oral language development, vocabulary, and general knowledge. These gaps are likely to widen over time because of the “Matthew effects,” whereby those who start out behind are at a relative disadvantage in acquiring new knowledge.  \nPolicy discussions about preventing and closing academic preparation gaps should be informed by a realistic view of the difficulty of closing these gaps. The more difficult and time-consuming it is to close the gaps, the more important it is to start the process earlier. Underestimating the time and effort required could lead educators and policymakers to underfund prevention efforts and choose intervention strategies that are too little and too late. Underestimating the difficulty could also lead policymakers to hold schools to unrealistic accountability targets, creating strong incentives at various levels in the system to lower standards and artificially inflate test scores. On the other hand, overestimating the difficulty could lead educators and policymakers to give up on students.  \nThis report uses information on the percentage of students reaching college and career readiness targets over a four-year period as an indicator of the difficulty of doing so. The report focuses on students who start out far off track—well below the achievement level that those with average growth trajectories need to reach college and career readiness targets in a specified later grade. We focus on closing academic preparation gaps over two fouryear periods:  \nGrades 8-12: How many students who are far off track in eighth grade reach college readiness benchmarks by twelfth grade?  \nGrades 4-8: How many who are far off track in fourth grade catch up by eighth grade?  \n1 These percentages would likely be still lower if the college and career readiness of dropouts was included.  \nCatching Up To | 1 College and Career Readiness  \n2. Catching Up in Grades 8–12  \nHow many students are far off track in eighth grade?  \nIn the 2009–10 school year EXPLORE® was administered to almost 800,000 eighth-grade students nationwide. For the purposes of this study, we divided students into three academic preparation groups in each subject based on their performance on EXPLORE in that subject:  \n• On Track students met the College Readiness Benchmark on EXPLORE (Figure 1) in the subject.  \n• Off Track students missed the Benchmark by one standard deviation or less.  \n• Far Off Track students scored more than a full standard deviation below the Benchmark.  \nFor example, a score of 15 or better in EXPLORE Reading indicated a student was On Track; Off Track students scored from 12 to 14, while students scoring 11 or below were classified as Far Off Track.2  \nFigure1: ACT’s College Readiness Benchmarks  \n\n|  | EXPLORE | PLAN | ACT |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| English | 13 | 15 | 18 |\n| Mathematics | 17 | 19 | 22 |\n| Reading | 15 | 17 | 21 |\n| Scienc","cbCailjJM0euLwjX","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCailjJM0euLwjX","pdf",315469,12,"English","# Introduction\n# Catching Up in Grades 8–12\n## Academic preparation groups and benchmarks\n## Catch-up proportions for far off track students\n# Catching Up Grades 4–8\n# Conclusion","[{\"question\":\"Why does the report emphasize starting gap-prevention efforts earlier?\",\"answer\":\"Closing academic preparation gaps is described as difficult and time-consuming. Underestimating this can lead to underfunding, unrealistic accountability targets, or intervening too late.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the report define On Track, Off Track, and Far Off Track students?\",\"answer\":\"Students are grouped by EXPLORE performance relative to the College Readiness Benchmark: On Track met the benchmark, Off Track missed it by one standard deviation or less, and Far Off Track scored more than one standard deviation below.\"},{\"question\":\"What does the report measure to indicate how hard it is to close the gaps?\",\"answer\":\"It uses the percentage of students who reach college and career readiness targets over a four-year period as an indicator of the difficulty of reaching those targets.\"}]","Catching Up To College and Career Readiness | PDF",1791519679]