High School Reimagined

Preparing Jeffco Graduates for Bright and Successful Futures

Jeffco has the opportunity to dramatically shift the current high school experience over the next five years with the goal of preparing students for their future and, most importantly, investing students in their education. Students will be excited to come to school, engaged in what they are learning, and they will experience a real-world relevance that demonstrates the value of their education. At the heart of our strategic approach are stronger Career Technical Education (CTE) pathways and the creation of a seminal Jeffco high school experience that prepare students for success after graduation.

Why focus on high school? High schools shape daily life, help turn students’ biggest dreams into reality and create the foundation for bright and successful futures.

28 high schools across 750 miles of geography. Serving a total of 23,339 high school students. 17 comprehensive high schools, two option schools, two remote schools and seven AEC schools.

The High School Reimagined initiative builds a community vision for the knowledge, skills and experiences we want Jeffco students to have when they graduate.

Creating a Shared Vision

In early 2023, we created a shared vision for what a reimagined high school experience should look like through brainstorming and feedback sessions with groups of students, parents, principals, educators, Alliance members, and District Accountability (DAC) members. We wanted to hear what great things schools are doing for kids today that they wanted to see more of and what else they wanted them to offer in the future.

What we heard

Our stakeholders confirmed that we needed to change our approach to the high school experience in multiple ways.

Students

"We want more opportunities to engage with future employers in internships or job shadows. One time events are not enough to understand what skills we need."

Alliance Members

"We want to be able to understand the different pathways and how to support our children in making the best choices for their future."

Industry Partners

"We are ready to hire your highly skilled students for critical needs jobs while also supporting them in continuing their education."

2024-25 School Year Road Map

South Region Pilot

Through a generous grant from the Gary Community Ventures, Chatfield, Dakota Ridge, Bear Creek and Columbine High Schools are leading a South Region Pilot to:

Determine the High-Quality CTE pathways in the South Region.
Increase Internships and Work-Based Learning opportunities across all schools.
Develop formalized Industry partnerships to support the Seminal Experience.
Develop recommendations for systems changes to support more access to programming across all schools.
Engage in regional professional development, including a South Region Futures Day to support all students in career exploration.

Public Safety Academy

Vision: Provide the Jeffco community with a first in the state innovative public safety center that trains both students and industry professionals in a public and community-based environment developed in partnership with local public safety agencies. This center will develop the next generation of public safety professionals ready to serve their community, while also providing an innovative training and community environment for public safety agencies.

Jeffco is collaborating with local public safety and law enforcement agencies to develop an educational experience that prepares students for success in college, career and life. This unique design will include:

Local public safety and law enforcement agencies co-designing coursework and experiences, fostering deep investment in the program for mutual benefit. This collaboration ensures students gain access to the necessary coursework and experiences to secure employment with these agencies if they wish.
Provides students with concurrent enrollment courses through a postsecondary partner. These credits are earned at no cost to students and their families.
Develops the next generation of public safety professionals through best practice training, dynamic mentorship, and exposure to professional experiences.

Our planning process will be intentional and will be updated once milestone dates are confirmed.

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Seminal Learning Experience

For more than 60 years, all Jeffco sixth graders have had the seminal experience of attending an Outdoor Lab School. In collaboration with industry partners, we are designing a new, in-depth work-based Seminal Learning Experience for high schoolers that allows them to demonstrate their durable skills in a real-world environment. Over the next year, we will examine the needs of students and industry to develop guidelines for the Seminal Learning Experience, and determine the systems support necessary to ensure all students have the opportunity to engage during their senior year.

Where Are We Going?

In order for us to reimagine high school, we need to consider the entire PK-12 experience and how we prepare students for their careers upon graduation.

Grades PK-5: Discover

An asset-based approach to cultivate student interest in the world around them and begin to develop their durable skills.

Grades 6-8: Explore the Magic of Middle School

According to child development experts, a child’s brain develops as much in middle school as it does in the first five years of life! We will harness the power of this unique stage by providing students with significant exposure to professions and professionals to seed interest, support students in beginning to build a vision of their future career pathway, and prepare them for success in high school.

Grades 9-10: Prepare

Families, counselors and students collaborate to ensure both college opportunity and career readiness that includes concurrent enrollment credits and CTE pathways.

Grades 11-12: Apply

Students engage in a Seminal Experience that includes meaningful work-based learning as well as a capstone reflection to share mastery of durable skills and prepares them to pursue the education and/or training they will need to achieve their career choices.

Innovation in Scheduling

A different high school experience will require us to think creatively about time and resources. In order to provide students with more work-based learning opportunities, our schools need to create more flexibility in daily schedules.

One way that we can do this is to combine courses that are aligned in content so students can meet graduation requirements faster and have more choice in their schedule. This also leads to more collaboration across departments and more capacity in staffing.

The first successful courses to be compacted in 2023-24 were Marching Band and Health/PE.
Three additional courses are in the process of being approved for the 2024-25 schedule.
Schools are looking for ways to connect relevant content to core classes to further increase student engagement.

What is a High-Quality Pathway?

Across Jeffco you will hear the term “pathway” used to describe a collection of classes and experiences students can engage in to prepare them for a career or college experiences. One of the key outcomes of the High School Reimagined process is to provide more students access to high-quality pathways that:

Prepares students for a high demand career with a liveable wage.
Includes industry credential and/or pathway-aligned college credit.
Ensures student development of industry-defined technical, academic, and durable skills through quality instruction and experiences.
Provides in-depth work-based learning experiences with a formalized local industry partnership.

Laying the Groundwork: Resume of a Jeffco Graduate

High school principals and Community Superintendents spent time in 2023 analyzing the Learner Goals and Durable Skills from America Succeeds to create a customized version that meets the goals of Jeffco Public Schools.

The national research pushed us to consider creating a Resume of a Jeffco Graduate that would help students leave high school with a clear demonstration of the skills they are taking into their future career.

Research

Learner Goals and Resume of a Graduate
Durable Skills