The Chicago Tribune reports that including college-readiness indicators in school evaluations could boost the number of high schools that must close in coming years.

This comes after Education Week reported that New York City is on the cusp of including college-readiness metrics in the way it evaluates high schools.

They predict that this is something that will become more familiar in the district. There’s a national focus on college readiness with Obama keenness for judging schools according to how well they prepare students for work or education after high school.

The Chicago board of education were given a Power Point presentation that made the case for tightening the screws on high schools, noting that fewer than six in 10 students graduate, and that students’ average ACT score is 17, short of the ACT’s “college readiness” benchmark of 21.

Only 8 percent of 11th graders are testing “college ready” in all subjects on the Prairie State Achievement Exam, which includes the ACT, as the data released in August shows.

In a press release issued for the board meeting, officials said they have commissioned new interim tests in literacy, math, and science that all 9th, 10th, and 11th graders will take this coming spring, to replace a patchwork of tests used for this purpose in the past.

But it sounds like these tests are more for feedback purposes than for evaluation.