TOP TASKS

Give teens the opportunity to craft the education of their dreams

“PXU City HS has no physical site — its 83 students create custom programs, choosing from a menu of some 500 options from Phoenix Union High School District’s bricks-and-mortar schools; its online-only program, internships; jobs; college classes; and career training programs,” reports The 74 Million’s Beth Hawkins. “A Camaro enables Dominguez to navigate this dizzying array of choices. When school starts up next week, every morning she will drive five miles to a high school in the city’s redeveloped Midtown district for two hours of classes. By 10:30, she’ll head home for lunch and log on to the few courses she needs to graduate. By 3, Dominguez will be on the road to Surprise, a far northwestern suburb about 30 miles away, where she is enrolled in a dental assistant training program.”

This reimagined high school experience is the brainchild of Chad Gestson, who just ended a remarkable eight year run as Phoenix Union’s superintendent. Chad was previously featured in this newsletter and a video interview after we identified him during the height of the pandemic as a leader who was getting things right for kids. His approach is one worth emulating for giving students access to a world of open and connected learning.

In the Phoenix Union district, high schoolers aren’t being shuttled from classroom to classroom on a preordained schedule but instead are making active choices framed around the life they want to live. While Gestson’s leadership was the driving force of the shifts, he was freed to innovate by laws that were the culmination of countless hours of advocacy. “Most large-scale efforts to get rid of seat time and the bell schedule — the system where everyone moves in lockstep through a standardized sequence of in-person classes, regardless of their interests — run into a thicket of red tape,” Hawkins writes, “Gestson’s decision to go bolder got a boost from the Arizona legislature, which freed school systems to innovate.”

And while the new approach to high school is still in its infancy, Hawkins reports there are already results: “Last fall, PXU surpassed its highest single-day enrollment in over a half-century. On state report cards, the district has more A- and B-rated schools than ever before and, for the first time, none rated D or F. ‘The pandemic gave us an entree,’ says Gestson. ‘It enabled us to go to a system with no limits.’”

Follow the lead of Colorado by investing in workforce skills that matter

“Colorado is one of the most educated states in the country, yet the state’s workforce is struggling with a talent shortage,” writes Hannah Metzger for Colorado Politics. “There are two job openings in Colorado for every one unemployed worker, according to state estimates …Polis and other speakers on Thursday said they want Colorado’s youth to fill those jobs. But they’ll need help to become qualified.”

Earlier this year, the Centennial State’s legislature provided one piece of the puzzle by passing a $44 million package to fund free apprenticeship programs in fields that meet the state’s growing needs, including nursing, early childhood education, elementary education and forestry at community, district and technical colleges.

At the “Unlocking Pathways Summit” held earlier this month, state, local and federal leaders explored what else needed to be done to reimagine high school and beyond for a changing world. “We are moving towards a skills-based economy,” Gov. Jared Polis said at the summit. “There is still a mismatch of skills between those who are unemployed and seeking work, and all the great jobs that are out there.”

Colorado’s efforts address a portion of what Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona called the high school of the future, which sounds remarkably similar to the Phoenix Union City High School: “The new high school format would offer students personalized career advising; the ability to earn workforce credentials and licenses; dual enrollment so that every student earns at least 12 college credits; and work-based learning that allows students to spend school days working in apprenticeships.”

The Department of Education announced a much smaller national grant package to encourage shifts to personalized high school, at $25 million spread out across a number of states. The idea is right, but dramatic shifts in what we offer students for their high school experience will require substantially higher funding to incentivize businesses and civic organizations, transportation for students and for districts to rethink logistics and operations.

Key Resources

A new report from Brookings Institute suggests that districts need a deeper understanding of how their community feels on politicized issues and clear guidance for principals and educators on handling parent complaints.

The American Enterprise Institute’s Rick Hess interviews Michael Lehan, who played six years in the NFL and is now the founder of a private school built for student-athletes.

Rand is out with a study on published benchmark assessments, finding that they are utilized by 99% of K-12 schools and there is an opportunity for districts to better align curricular materials with benchmarks.

Achievement levels at Washington DC’s schools are up from last year’s results but still below the pre-pandemic numbers, the Office of the State Superintendent notes.

Students assigned to Gen-X or Millennial teachers learn more than students assigned to Baby Boomer teachers, according to a new report at Ed Working Papers.

Fordham explores new research that finds early college high schools, and earning college credit before graduation, has a noticeable effect on the future attainment of a bachelor’s degree.

The 74 Million shares YPulse’s new poll of Gen-Z students, finding that 2 in 5 are less interested in college than they were before the pandemic.