This website is the online, one-stop resource center for Achieve’s Future Ready Project. 

It was designed to provide state and local college- and career-ready advocates with the information and strategies needed to effectively make the case for college- and career-ready education policies in their states.

What does that mean?

Let’s say you want to jumpstart a college- and career-ready public awareness campaign: You should:

• Watch existing PSAs and other videos in the Future Ready Exchange for inspiration.
• Review the Future Ready Tools, particularly “Communicating Internally and Externally,” “Communications Channels for Every Budget,” and "Building a College- and Career-Ready Coalition" to develop a comprehensive plan and coalition of supporters.
• Read "How To" Strategies (starting with "How to EDUCATE and ADVOCATE") to ensure your public awareness campaign is designed to reach your intended audiences, is compelling, and leverages the power of social media.
• Review Future Ready Facts and Future Ready Research to make sure your campaign is backed by citable evidence.

Let’s say you want to partner with a district on Common Core engagement.  You should:

• First familiarize yourself with the Future Ready Facts so that you can answer questions about the importance of the Common Core State Standards. You may want to download the Word version of “Why Common Core State Standards” to modify it so that it reflects how the new standards will impact your state.
• Then read "How to REACH Students and How to Have a Local Impact" to identify strategies for direct engagement with a local district.
• Use the Future Ready Tools to put together a communications strategy, or specific tactics you want to take on.
• You can also look at the Future Ready Exchange and see if there are any good materials already developed that are worth replicating.

Let’s say you want to schedule meetings with state legislators to talk about college- and career-ready policies.  You should:

• Use the "How to EDUCATE and ADVOCATE" strategy piece to request the meetings.
• Review the Flex Fact Sheets to anticipate potential areas of pushback.
• Then, you should assemble packets of information to bring with you, using the Future Ready fact sheets and a state fact sheet.

Let’s say you are preparing for a local newspaper interview to talk about your support for college and career readiness.  You should:

• Read our "Talking to the Media 101" which provides tips and dos and don’ts for speaking with reporters.
• Review the “Do’s and Don’ts” for communicating college and career readiness.
• Firm up your Key Three messages to ensure a consistent voice.
• Peruse the fact sheets linked to In Your State to find compelling state-specific data points.