Northern Arizona University and several school districts are forming a coalition to redesign high school.
The effort is called H5 and it’s being spearheaded by NAU's Arizona Institute for Education and the Economy. H5 stands for high school, higher education, high wage, high skill and high demand jobs.
Chad Gestson is founder and executive director of the institute. He said they want to make sure high school students are best-prepared for their future careers.
“If they’re passionate about a STEM field or arts or humanities or a particular job or even military,” Gestson said. “Right now high school seems and feels like a one-size-fits-all and we’re trying to make sure that there are enough pathways and opportunities for children in Arizona to thrive.”
The coalition will take a closer look at the typical subjects currently being taught in Arizona high schools.
“So we’re gonna look at everything from graduation requirements, to course-taking patterns, to dual enrollment, to internships, to early college access, and to even new literacies and new competencies that we’re not necessarily teaching today, but we should,” Gestson said.
Those could include financial, digital and AI literacy. About 20 school districts across the state have signed on so far.
EDITOR'S NOTE: A previous version of this story said Arizona Board of Regents was working with the coalition. ABOR is the signing agency for the project but is not doing the work directly.
