American Diploma Project

The American Diploma Project (ADP) is an initiative taking place in 34 states to raise expectations and standards for all students so that a high school diploma will mean that graduates are prepared to succeed in college or in a high-performance workplace. It is a culmination of a nationwide, standards-based education reform movement that has continued for nearly 2 decades through the efforts of state and business leaders. This entry describes the origin, the evolution, the goals, and the status of ADP, including the development of an end-of-course exam for Algebra II.

ADP was established in 2001 by three nonprofit education reform organizations (Achieve, [Page 52]Inc., the Education Trust, and the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation) and by a business association (the National Alliance for Business), all of which had been advocates for raising academic expectations and standards in elementary and secondary schools. Achieve, the lead implementing agency for the ADP, is a bipartisan organization formed by the nation's governors and business leaders that helps states create aligned systems of high academic standards, assessments, and accountability to improve the performance of their schools.

The goal of the ADP is to improve preparation for postsecondary education and careers by (a) defining the English and mathematics competencies that high school graduates need to succeed in college and the workplace, and (b) working with state leaders to establish policies and systems to incorporate those competencies into state standards, assessments, high school graduation requirements, and systems of accountability for educators at both school and college levels.

With initial funding from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the ADP conducted research involving more than 300 high school teachers, college faculty members from 2- and 4-year institutions, and frontline business managers in five states to define specific benchmarks describing the knowledge and skills in English and math that high school graduates must possess to succeed in college and to secure a good job. The initial five states were Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Nevada, and Texas.

The ADP published these benchmarks, together with examples of workplace tasks and college assignments in a 2004 report titled Ready or Not: Creating a High School Diploma That Counts. That report cited survey and research data to describe the following problems which the ADP is intended to address:

• Most high school students need remedial help in college.
• Most college students never attain a degree.
• Most employers say high school graduates lack basic skills.
• Too few high school students take challenging courses.
• Most high school exit exams do not measure what matters to colleges and employers.

The report also concluded that the knowledge and skills needed to succeed in college and those needed to succeed in promising jobs leading to career advancement are essentially the same. Finally, it called upon states to raise expectations and realign their graduation requirements to reflect the knowledge and skills needed for success in college and in a meaningful career.

The American Diploma Project Network was launched in February 2005 at the National Summit on High Schools cohosted by Achieve, Inc. and the National Governors Association and attended by 45 governors, chief executive officers from some of the nation's largest companies, and state and federal education leaders. At that meeting, 13 states educating more than one third of the nation's students formed the ADP Network and agreed to develop action plans to address the challenges identified in the Ready or Not report. Specifically, they pledged to do the

...