Policies to Improve Instruction and Learning in High Schools

To improve the consistency and rigor of high school instruction, the NGA Center partnered with ACT, Inc. on a pilot project in three states: Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Pennsylvania. ACT trained 98 teachers in 18 high schools on how to use state-of-the-art curriculum units and new instructional methods that were integrated with a system of assessments. The project focused on 10th grade courses—English language arts, geometry, and biology—and aimed to prepare more high school graduates for the demands of higher education and the workplace.