Career-Connected Learning and Exact Path with Phoenix Union School District

Driving Academic Growth with Exact Path While Building Toward Effective Career-Connected Learning with 3DE Partnership

Phoenix Union School District (PXU), with 23 high schools and tens of thousands of students, is one of the largest high school districts in the U.S. In this panel discussion, PXU and Junior Achievement of Arizona leaders describe their collaboration to bring the 3DE model to the district, re-engineering high schools to prioritize career-connected learning and build real-world relevance. You’ll also hear how Cesar Chavez High School has begun to use Exact Path to drive measurable skill growth and help students build academic skills that form the foundation for career readiness. 

Panelists:

• Laura Telles – Chief Achievement Officer, Phoenix Union High School District
• Tony Camp – Executive Director of Teaching and Learning, Phoenix Union High School District
• Robert Grant – Principal of Cesar Chavez High School
• Anne Landers – COO, Junior Achievement of Arizona
• Ross Romano – Director of Content Marketing, Edmentum (moderator)

Key Topics

Here’s some of what you’ll hear about in the webinar:

What students are looking for in their education today, and how PXU hopes to create those outcomes. 

“Creating that career and real-world connectivity and relevancy. Helping [students] understand how the topics they have to learn, that they're required to sit in their seats and learn, really, really matter for their future,” says Anne Landers.  

“Not just creating that relevancy,” she adds, “but also creating a sense of belonging and helping them see how they fit within their school environment, and how they might also fit within the greater picture of the world longer term, and where their place might be…and how their potential might sync up to those future possibilities for themselves.”

“Students in Phoenix Union, I believe, are seeking relevance, agency, and connection,” says Tony Camp. “And in terms of connection, not just relationally, but also in terms of right now, and their future selves. They want learning that resonates with their personal identities and prepares them for real world success.”

How career-connected learning improves students’ engagement in their education. 

“In my experience as a former CTE Director, I got to see this firsthand. In fact, I would brag about the data of students that experienced a career and technical education course in high school, and what that showed in terms of results of their overall achievement, graduation rate, and dropout rate,” says Camp. 

He adds, “I think career-connected learning actually makes education tangible for our students when they see how their coursework connects or links to real world outcomes, especially through a business case based model. They become more motivated, they become more persistent, and they become more confident in their future.”

How PXU is using Edmentum’s Exact Path for diagnostic-driven learning paths at the secondary level, aligned with the district’s NWEA benchmark assessments, to help students build foundational skills and keep them on-track academically while they pursue career-connected learning goals.

“This adaptive learning tool helps students build foundational skills, that are essential for not only academic success but also for long-term career readiness,” says Camp. 

“It's tailored to [students’] specific needs,” adds Robert Grant. He describes a new advisory period added in Cesar Chavez High School to provide students more opportunity to receive math support, and notes that math proficiency increased in the first year of implementation. “I’m confident that Exact Path is helping,” he says. 

The available economic opportunities in the Phoenix area and how the district is working to prepare students for those opportunities.

Laura Telles lists healthcare, logistics, technology, and advanced manufacturing as industries of particular relevance. “We really want to connect our students to these career opportunities,” she says. “3DE offers that through internships, through mentorships, through curriculum, that, as we've talked about before, really allow those competencies to be something that come to life. And we really want to see our students graduate with credentials that are industry recognized, certifications that are industry recognized, and with college credit that's aligned.”

Insights on what makes a public-private partnership successful.  

“If somebody on the workforce side ever gripes about, ‘They're not ready, or I can't find the skilled workforce,’ my first question is always around ‘Well, what is your organization doing to help influence that?,” says Landers. “Similarly, on the education side, it takes more than just opening your doors to help with the garden. Absolutely valuable and worthy, and there is so much need for that, but it takes a willingness to look at it differently and integrate business into the learning environment in a different way.”

What’s next for PXU?

“We're really hopeful that our students are going to be excited about this learning experience,” explains Telles. Through its efforts, the district aims to increase academic success, decrease absences, improve connectedness to campus, and ultimately graduate students college- and career-ready, she says. 

If you’re interested in the topics discussed in this webinar, check out some related resources:

• [Webinar] Reimagining K-12: The Future of Career-Connected Learning
• [Webinar] Secondary Intervention: 3 Essential Elements for Success
• [Podcast] Disrupting the Status Quo of Trade Prep
• [Article] Career-Connected Learning Drives Reimagination of Secondary Education
• [Product] Exact Path
• [Toolkit] Career-Connected Learning
• [Toolkit] Math Success