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?

During the next decade, we will see 65% of Generation Alpha, individuals born between 2010 and 2024, working in jobs that don’t exist today. We believe we can do more to help our students be prepared and resilient for this changing world by providing them more opportunities during their high school experience.

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.

2024-25 School Year Progress

Career Pathway Successes

South Region Pilot

Through a generous grant from the Gary Community Ventures, Chatfield High School, Dakota Ridge High School, Bear Creek High School and Columbine High School were able to participate in a High School Reimagined pilot focused on the South Region. Through collaborative efforts, the pilot schools accomplished multiple objectives including:

Development of the Resume of a Graduate in all pilot schools.
Three approved credit crosswalked courses and an additional 44 Concurrent Enrollment credits.
Development of a regional strategy for career pathways that includes a process to identify high quality career pathways and develop stronger work-based learning and industry partnerships
- This included the creation of a Bio-Medical & Pharmacy Tech pathway at Bear Creek High School, which includes $100,000 of donated equipment for a CNA lab.
Development of a plan for five high-quality regional career pathways, including transportation solutions and ongoing engagement with industry partners.
Career Hubs strengthened or established in all pilot schools.

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.

The High School Reimagined Steering Committee developed a draft set of criteria for the seminal experience to ensure we can meet the needs of all students, while also preparing them for their post graduation career plans.

The criteria includes:

An opportunity that is developed with student interest, input and future goals.
Application of academic and durable skills, including concurrent enrollment and industry certifications.
Relevant work-based learning.
A final product, demonstration or reflection on the experience.
Completes the Resume of a Graduate and informs the student’s career plan.

Durable Skills Pilot

First Annual Jeffco Business and Industry Summit

Over 200 industry and education partners filled the Golden High School auditorium on April 29, 2025 to learn more about the High School Reimagined work that is happening in our classrooms.

Industry partners had a clear call to action for the 2025-26 school year: become a capstone mentor, sponsor a project at a school, provide a job shadow, or open an internship.

Industry partners also had the chance to move into career cluster specific groups to hear from our CTE teachers on the programming efforts we are making, as well as a deep dive into the four durable skills (collaboration, communication, critical thinking and leadership), and discuss how they are critical to ensure our students are prepared for the future. Attendees also had the opportunity to discuss what Durable Skills look like in their specific industries.

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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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.

Resume of a Jeffco Graduate

After reviewing national research from America Succeeds in 2023, each comprehensive high school leadership team spent time in 2024 to identify the actions necessary for students to demonstrate durable skills and build their own Resume of a Graduate to accelerate their career plan.

Each school developed definitions for the durable skills and focused professional development to embed the durable skills into all content areas.

Each Resume of a Graduate has been updated on school specific websites and will be reviewed throughout the course of next year as we continue to deepen implementation in classrooms.

resume of a graduate - critical thinking, leadership, collaboration, communication