Choice Ready North Dakota

Program Description:

The North Dakota Department of Public Instruction implemented the Choice Ready framework to ensure high school students are ready for success upon graduation. The initiative outlines the essential skills needed to be ready for life as well as skills needed for whichever path a student chooses after high school—post-secondary education, military, or the workforce. This framework supports the department’s mission: All students will graduate choice ready with the knowledge, skills, and disposition to be successful. The initiative also measures growth in readiness metrics for each school and school district. High schools must improve year after year to maintain the Choice Ready goals as established within DPI’s accountability initiative.  

Impact:

The state publishes Choice Ready metrics for each school and school district on an annual basis. Choice Ready growth is calculated based upon year-over-year growth in the overall performance of the school’s 12^th grade students having acquired the essential skills and attained two of the three readiness areas. Since the 2020-21 school year, the percent of graduates that meet Choice Ready requirements overall and each metric that composes Choice Ready has increased. The most recent available data for the 2024-25 school year shows that 73% of high school students met Choice Ready requirements overall, with 94% of students achieving essential skills, with 63% ready for post-secondary education, 59% ready for the military, and 95% ready for the workforce. 

Population served:

Learners, educators, state K-12 agency

Learn more here.

Page last updated in August 2026