A District Looks Beyond Diplomas to Deliver Future-Readiness

AASA Learning 2025 Lighthouse Demonstration System: TOWNSHIP HIGH SCHOOL District 214

Preparing students for success in a world that cannot yet be imagined, with classrooms that break with tradition, drives the work of Township High School District 214 in Cook County, Ill., and its 40 academic and career pathways.

The district’s “diploma-plus” mission is to graduate students with more than a high school degree, using capstone experiences that enable students to earn postsecondary and industry credentials and early college credits.

The years-long buildup has paid off with former superintendent David Schuler, now AASA’s executive director, reporting last October that more than 80 percent of Class of 2022 graduates had left District 214 with at least 15 early college credits.

In a podcast produced by the Illinois Association of School Administrators, Schuler says the district, which serves as an AASA Lighthouse System, provides more than 2,700 external work-based learning experiences. District 214 sits about 27 miles northwest of downtown Chicago with six comprehensive high schools and another high school with four alternative education programs.

Timely Pathways

One goal of the initiative, says Megan Kelly, who served the past four years as director of academic programs and pathways for the 12,000-student Arlington Heights district, is to ensure students “don’t waste their time and money after graduation because they don’t know what they want to do next.”

For more than a decade, District 214 educators have been developing integrated academic and career pathways with the assistance of industry and postsecondary partners. After starting small with two career pathways — for students interested in manufacturing and health care — the district this year opened its 40th career option for those interested in sustainability, energy, environment and data analysis.

The pathways reflect workforce needs in the suburban community, as illustrated by the certified nursing assistant program, through which roughly 300 students annually earn six hours of dual credits at nearby Harper College. In partnership with local hospitals and long-term care facilities, students complete 40 clinical hours. Upon passing the state examination, the licensed nursing assistants can work in a variety of settings, including home-based care.

Kelly, now a high school principal in the district, says “real jobs, real majors and real opportunities” drive the selection of new pathways with student interest a primary factor. An advisory council of industry experts and postsecondary partners informs pathway development, which leads to the curriculum buildout. From time to time, pathways are revisited to reflect the changing times, as in the case of journalism, which now includes a multimedia focus, including livestreaming and podcast creation.

Each career pathway starts with an exploration/orientation course that allows students to see for themselves if the pathway is a good fit. Subsequent courses delve deeper, leading up to the capstone learning experience in the junior or senior year.

The Aviation Academy capstone runs out of Chicago Executive Airport, in partnership with National Louis University, through which dual credits are granted. Students study to become pilots and aviation maintenance technicians. Seven airport tenants offer work-based learning internships, with the airport itself serving as one of the district’s official partners.

With eight postsecondary partners and more than 1,500 industry partners, the district offers 76 dual-credit courses and more internship opportunities than ever before.

District Responsiveness

The partners see how responsive the district is, Kelly says, “and they come looking to us for students who can become the next generation of technicians, engineers, manufacturers, teachers, health care professionals and more.”

Case in point is the education pathway, which started at one high school for about 25 students and now is in all six high schools, with two sections offered at one site.

“Our goal is to grow the next generation of educators and bring them back to our communities to teach,” Kelly says. Toward that end, students who go on to study education at National Louis or Eastern Illinois universities are guaranteed a student teaching spot at District 214 or one of its 31 neighboring district partners.

Advancing from two to 40 pathways has been quite a journey for District 214, driven by teacher, staff and student interests and labor market needs.

Course Relevancy

Educators in the district are encouraged to learn, lead and innovate, which came about, Kelly says, when “every course description in the very traditional academics handbook” was rewritten. Descriptions now include photos, participants’ stories, available dual credits, workplace vignettes and job descriptions for each profession, whether a student enters the workforce right after high school or upon earning a postsecondary degree.

“The focus now is not about the course, but on what students will experience while they’re in that course,” Kelly says. “That’s a really important mind shift for us all.”

The impetus to get started with academic and career pathways was a no-brainer for Schuler, who said as much in his 2022 IASA podcast.

“The world is transforming itself faster than it ever has in the history of the world, and it’s the slowest it will ever change in the rest of our lives,” says Schuler, who spent 18 years as superintendent in Arlington Heights. “It’s really incumbent upon us to prepare future-ready learners who can access a family-supporting wage job and to be able to successfully navigate jobs that don’t even exist today.”

Linda Chion is a freelance education writer in Lithia, Fla.