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At the Manchester School of Technology in New Hampshire, high school freshman John Thornton completed Algebra I in the spring and immediately moved on to his next math course. “I walked right into the Geometry classroom and asked for a full unit and started doing it as soon as I got home,” he recently told The Christian Science Monitor.¹

And in Christiana, Delaware, students at Design-Lab High School learn by applying “design thinking” across the curriculum, honing their ability to tackle hands-on problems that have no simple solutions. “We rarely use pencils in this class,” observed a junior in an interview with The News Journal.²

In Cedar Rapids, Iowa, students enrolled in Iowa BIG learn entirely by working outside the classroom on self-selected, community-based projects proposed by local businesses, nonprofit organizations, and government agencies.³ In an interview published by the school, one student explained that “it’s very passion-driven.”⁴ Instead of turning in homework and taking tests and quizzes, students earn credit toward graduation by demonstrating to teachers that they have mastered academic standards during their day-to-day project work.

Recently, educators and policymakers have taken steps to improve high school graduation rates. Their efforts have already led to a record 83.2 percent graduation rate in 2016 and a 40 percent reduction over the past decade in the number of high schools graduating less than 6 in 10 students.⁵ Yet significant challenges for high schools remain, as highlighted by the Gallup Organization’s 2016 poll on student engagement, which found that only 1 in 3 11th-graders was engaged in school—compared with nearly 3 in 4 fifth-graders.⁶ Furthermore, research has shown that 40 percent to 60 percent of first-year college students require remediation in English, math, or both.⁷ Finally, analysis from the Georgetown Center on Education and the Workforce highlights the need to increase educational attainment; it estimates that by 2020, the country will be in need of 5 million more workers with a postsecondary education.⁸

Given the urgency of this challenge, many innovators around the country are questioning and rethinking fundamental assumptions about the high school experience. While their motives may vary, these innovators share one overarching goal: to do a better job graduating students who are fully prepared to succeed after high school. This issue brief describes the current movement to redesign high school and it suggests ways in which state policymakers can support innovators—from removing barriers posed by current laws and regulations to soliciting and supporting on-the-ground redesign efforts.

A national movement to redesign high schools

The movement to redesign high schools emphasizes bottom-up, locally designed solutions rather than cookie-cutter models or rigid checklists of required reforms. Some redesigned high schools are transformations of existing schools, while others are newly launched schools based on innovative designs. Some are charter schools, and some operate within traditional school districts. No two redesigned high schools are exactly alike. Even so, some common themes have emerged, and most redesigned high schools incorporate at least a few of the following design elements:

• Competency-based education, or mastery learning. Many redesigned high schools reject the traditional model in which students earn credits and diplomas by putting in enough “seat time” and earning passing grades. Instead, students must demonstrate that they have mastered specific, clearly defined learning goals in order to progress through the curriculum, moving as quickly as they want or as slowly as they need.
• Personalized learning. Most redesigned high schools are finding ways to tailor at least some of the learning experience to students’ individual needs, interests, and postsecondary goals. Many leverage technology for this purpose, for example, by providing students with personalized digital playlists of learning activities or with choices of online courses and content.
• “Anywhere, anytime” learning. At many redesigned high schools, students have significant opportunities to learn outside of traditional school hours and beyond school walls. These opportunities include work-based internships and apprenticeships; service learning; at-home learning through online courses and digital activities; and taking on projects to solve problems in local communities.
• Hands-on, project-based learning. Most redesigned high schools emphasize hands-on projects and problem-solving activities, which can take place either inside the classroom or outside the school. These innovative learning strategies aim to engage students; give them opportunities to apply their learning; encourage them to practice problem-solving and design thinking skills; and help them make connections across subject areas.
• A focus on in-depth preparation for both college and careers. Most redesigned high schools explicitly recognize that success in today’s economy requires a broad mix of academic, social-emotional, and technical competencies—regardless of the path that students pursue after high school. These schools blend rigorous academic learning; greater opportunities and expectations for earning advanced postsecondary credits; and credentials with real-world career preparation, offering students clearly articulated career pathways, or majors. 

A policy disconnect

Innovators seeking to redesign the high school experience work within a policy environment built to service more traditional high school models. While this does not prevent them from implementing new approaches, it can create various forms of friction between what innovators want to do and what policy encourages or allows. Such policy friction most commonly occurs when high school innovators confront seat time requirements, which were built into many state policy areas—particularly high school credit and graduation requirements.

Policies related to seat time have roots dating back to the first decade of the 20th century. Steel tycoon Andrew Carnegie created the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching in order to administer a pension system for college professors. In order to set criteria for which institutions could participate in the program, the foundation established a new, common definition of college entry requirements. Students were now expected to earn 14 units by completing high school courses, which consisted of five, hour-long, weekly periods over a regular school year. Ultimately, the Carnegie Unit was embedded in policy; from it, states adopted high school graduation requirements so that students could meet minimum requirements for college admission.¹⁰

To complicate matters, over the course of the 20th century, states began using time-based measures—called instructional, clock, or contact hours—in a number of other state policy areas, such as minimum requirements for educational programs, school approval standards, and formulas for distributing state funding.¹¹ Moreover, depending on the specific school design and the particular state context, high school innovators can encounter a wide range of other friction points. They are often encumbered by policies related to the transition between high school and higher education; by curriculum or textbook adoption policies; or by limitations on awarding credit for learning experiences that took place outside the school building or regular school hours.

How states can encourage high school redesign

While the current movement to redesign high schools does focus on bottom-up solutions rather than top-down comprehensive reforms, state policymakers can support innovators in important ways. More specifically, policymakers can:

• Make room for innovation through policy flexibility.
• Update policies related to high school graduation, credits, and funding.
• Adopt high school assessment and accountability systems with redesign in mind.
• Solicit and support local initiatives to redesign high schools through strategies such as seed grants and pilot programs.

1. Make room for innovation

The most important way policymakers can support high school innovators is to simply get out of their way. They can do this by reducing barriers and friction points between what innovators want to do and what current laws and regulations allow.

Clarify and communicate existing kinds of policy flexibility

Research shows that local educators tend not to understand, know about, or accurately estimate how much flexibility current state laws and regulations already offer. Part of the problem is that, in many cases, the extent and nature of policy flexibility is simply unclear or too complex.

States can begin by taking the simple and low-cost step of clarifying and communicating current flexibilities in state policies related to high school redesign and innovation, particularly any policies based on seat time.

• State example: Wisconsin issued an updated report, Fostering Innovation in Wisconsin Schools: Beyond Credits and Seat Time and Toward Innovative Practices that Lead to College and Career Readiness, which explains current seat time requirements and describes 18 separate vehicles that work to provide flexibility to innovate.¹⁶

Create broader ‘default’ flexibility in key policy areas

When states rely entirely on individual waivers to provide policy flexibility, innovation is often inhibited, as waivers are often narrowly defined, restricted to special circumstances, or require a cumbersome process to obtain and annually renew. States can go beyond offering waivers by enacting policies that provide broader default permission for high schools to operate in different ways, particularly when it comes to awarding credit toward graduation.¹⁷

• State example: In 2012, Iowa passed legislation requiring state regulations to be amended in order to “allow a school district … to award high school credit to an enrolled student upon the demonstration of required competencies for a course or content area, as approved by a [licensed] teacher.”¹⁸ That broad flexibility permitted Iowa BIG to grant students credit for demonstrating mastery of academic standards while working on community-based projects, rather than for meeting seat time requirements and earning passing grades in traditional classroom settings.

Permit charter schools and, if necessary, raise caps on new charters

Many innovative high schools are charter schools that have taken advantage of the charter school bargain, which affords them freedom from many regulations in exchange for being held accountable for student learning. Charter school laws exist in 45 states, but more than half of these states place caps on the number of charter schools that may be authorized.¹⁹ Charter school policies have wide variance, but states could enable innovative high school designs and accelerate redesign efforts by maintaining and enforcing rigorous standards for authorizing and renewing charters, while also raising caps on charters as needed.

Establish ‘innovation status’ for noncharter schools

A handful of states have enacted legislation that allows regular public schools outside the charter sector to obtain innovation status, which provides a streamlined way to obtain a multi-year package of policy waivers necessary to implement innovative strategies and new school designs.²⁰

• State example: In 2008, the Colorado Legislature enacted its Innovation Schools Act, which established a process by which a school or a group of schools could submit an innovation plan to a local school district, which then submits the plan for approval to the state Board of Education.²¹ Each plan describes how the innovative school design would improve student outcomes and promote cost efficiencies, and it details each requested waiver of state policy, local school board policy, and collective bargaining provisions, along with replacement policies the school would follow in lieu of the waived requirements²².

2. Update graduation, credit, and funding policies

In addition to providing policy flexibility, states can consider amending key policies related to high schools in order to move toward a framework that is more conducive to redesign.

Rethink high school graduation requirements

States can broaden high school graduation requirements so that they include more than just seat time.

• State example: In 2007, the Colorado Legislature required local boards of education to adopt graduation requirements that met or exceeded guidelines established by the state Board of Education.²³ In 2015, the state board adopted graduation guidelines that included a “menu of college and career-ready demonstrations” from which local districts could select. This allowed schools to determine students’ eligibility for graduation based on whether they earned state-defined minimum scores on national assessments, such as ACT, SAT, AP, and IB exams; received college credits through concurrent enrollment; obtained industry certifications; and completed a district capstone project.²⁴ In short, the new policy broadened graduation requirements beyond seat time without eliminating it entirely.

Some New England states have taken much more ambitious action, passing legislation to completely eliminate credits based on seat time and instead require all credits to be based on demonstrations of proficiency.

• State example: In 2012 and 2016, Maine passed legislation requiring a full transition to proficiency-based diplomas and transcripts.²⁵ State law now requires students—beginning with the graduating class of 2021—to demonstrate proficiency in the Maine Learning Results in order to earn a diploma. The law specifies that students “must be allowed to demonstrate proficiency by presenting multiple types of evidence, including but not limited to teacher-designed or student-designed assessments, portfolios, performance, exhibitions, projects and community service.”²⁶

Any new requirements should still align with college entrance requirements, which will require state K-12 and higher education systems to coordinate with each other in this work.

Ensure students receive credit for rigorous but nontraditional learning experiences

As described above, many high school redesigns encourage or require students to learn and progress in nontraditional ways, including competency-based (or mastery) education; anywhere, anytime learning; and opportunities to pursue advanced postsecondary learning while still in high school. States can ensure that laws and regulations enable students to accrue and apply credits for all three kinds of learning experiences.

For example, states can require districts to formulate local credit-granting policies that specify how students can earn credit for competency-based learning and for learning that takes place outside of regular hours or beyond school walls.

• State example: Prompted by state legislation enacted in 2006, Ohio’s state Board of Education required all local boards of education to adopt a “Credit Flex” policy by 2010-11.²⁷ Local Credit Flex policies must describe three ways that high school students can earn credit: by completing traditional coursework requirements; by demonstrating mastery of course content; or by pursuing educational options, such as online learning, internships, or community-based learning.²⁸

States might also review policies related to granting credit for specific kinds of anywhere, anytime activities, such as internships and apprenticeships with local businesses.

• State example: As part of a statewide overhaul of work-based learning policies, Tennessee published implementation and policy guides that specify criteria under which students can earn credit for certain kinds of work-based learning.²⁹ The state also issued a set of career practicum course standards for credit-granting capstone experiences, such as internships and apprenticeships.³⁰

Several states have adopted “course access” initiatives that provide students with opportunities to take many kinds of approved courses for credit—another way to enable students to learn both inside and outside traditional school hours and locations.³¹ Such policies also might be especially important for smaller high schools, where economies of scale can make it difficult to afford certified on-site teachers for a wide range of specialized courses, such as world languages, physics, and calculus.³²

• State example: Rhode Island’s Advanced Coursework Network enables high school students to earn credits by completing courses from other districts, community-based organizations, training programs, or institutions of higher education that are not available at their high schools.³³ Importantly, the program ensures quality control through its approval process, ensuring that students are not earning credit for the kind of undemanding courses described in recent exposes of online learning and credit recovery programs.³⁴

Provide fair funding for redesigned high schools

Many states provide foundation funding to school districts based on hours of instruction provided to students, with complex administrative rules about what kinds of activities count and how to count them. This can conflict with personalized and competency-based approaches common in redesigned high schools. For example, Thomas Rooney—the superintendent of California’s Lyndsay Unified School District, which began implementing competency-based and personalized learning approaches at the high school level in 2007—recently observed, “Money comes to the district based on the ‘seat time’ factor and positive attendance.  That’s an issue, and some district boards won’t let the district change to a competency-based model because it’ll keep the district from getting money.”⁴⁰ In addition, some states specify that funding be based on contact hours with teachers, which can make it difficult to count the time students spend in anywhere, anytime learning activities that teachers facilitate but may not oversee in person.⁴¹

States should review policies related to funding in order to ensure that redesigned high schools are not shortchanged if they incorporate approaches that rethink the how, where, and when of learning and de-emphasize the amount of time students spend in classrooms.

• State example: In 2014, the Ohio Legislature passed simple language in order to better align funding for high schools with its Credit Flex policy requiring districts to establish ways that students can earn credit for competency- and community-based learning. First, it established that ninth- through twelfth-grade students may be considered full-time equivalents as long as they are enrolled in five units of instruction. Second, and most importantly, the new legislation affirmed that, “instead of being paid based on the student’s hours of attendance, payment will be made based on the percentage of 5 approved credits a student takes.”⁴²

• State example: Although New Hampshire requires instruction to be “under the direction of a teacher employed by the school district,” for purposes of funding, it provides an exception for activities under its extended learning opportunities initiative as long as a teacher employed by the district verifies that students have earned credit by demonstrating mastery of competencies through activities outside the classroom.⁴³

3. Consider redesign in assessment and accountability systems

States should expect innovative high schools to meet high expectations for providing students a quality education—especially given that one impetus for high school redesign is to better prepare students for success after high school. To do this, policymakers should craft assessment and accountability systems in ways that reward positive outcomes and present no strong disincentives to innovate.

Consider assessment strategies that streamline standardized testing

There is much debate about whether current statewide assessments hinder innovation in high school designs, particularly those that emphasize competency-based and personalized learning.

Some local innovators and national advocates argue that they do, especially in states that have required high school exit exams as part of their accountability systems.⁴⁴ For example, according to one consortium of high schools participating in the Competency-Based Education Pilot for Ohio—a state that has required passage of state tests or threshold scores on other exams to graduate—“testing windows that are currently required for state-mandated assessments do not adequately reflect the needs of the students within a STEM school and/or CBE [competen