Comprehensive Career and Post-secondary Preparation
Students should graduate from high school with a plan and skills to succeed in a competitive international environment. All students should have access to exploratory and planning tools and guidance designed to help them set personal, educational, and career goals, and develop an educational plan that helps them achieve their goals.

No business can be successful without a well thought out and clearly defined business plan. Accordingly, Colorado Succeeds strongly supports the use of individual career and academic plans (CAPs) for students to define their goals and create a path to achieve them.

Colorado Succeeds is harnessing the support of the business community to support comprehensive career and post-secondary preparation by encouraging state wide policy changes that 1) supports comprehensive, portable individual career and academic plans for each student to track their career and college pathways, 2) proposes that each district adopt a plan defining its strategies for career and post-secondary preparation, as part of its accreditation plan, and 3) requires the State Board of Education to adopt internationally competitive standards for career and post-secondary preparation.

21st Century Skills
Colorado Succeeds believes school reform initiatives must take into account that the demands of the 21st century are profoundly different today than even a decade ago. Our education system should prepare students for citizenship, work and postsecondary education.

Colorado Succeeds supports a collective vision for 21st century learning that can be used to strengthen American education. The framework includes:

• Core subjects – English, reading, math, science, foreign language, government, economics, arts, history and geography
• 21st century content – several emerging content areas are critical to success in communities and the workplace. These content areas typically are not emphasized in schools today: global awareness, financial, economic, business and entrepreneurial literacy, civic literacy and health and wellness awareness
• Learning and thinking skills – students need to know how to keep learning, and make effective and innovative use of what they know throughout their lives. Skills such as critical thinking and problem solving, creativity and innovation, communication and collaboration
• ICT literacy – Information and communications technology (ICT) is the ability to use technology to develop 21st century content knowledge and skills. Students must be able to use technology to learn content and skills so that they know how to solve problems, use information, communicate and collaborate.
• Life skills – Deliberate and strategic incorporation of essential life skills such as leadership, ethics, accountability, people skills, self-direction, financial awareness, and social responsibility
• 21st century assessments – Assessments must measure the five results that matter (listed above). Standardized tests can measure only some of the skills and material students should learn. A balance of assessments, including high-quality standardized testing along with effective classroom assessments offer students a powerful way to master the content and skills central to success.

Today, every student, whether he/she plans to go on to a 4-year college, trade school or entry-level job, requires 21st century skills to succeed. We need to ensure that all students are qualified to succeed in work and in life in the new global economy.