The Phoenix Union High School District (PXU) will host the Carnegie Foundation on October 3–5 as we reimagine high schools and ideate on how education can move beyond time-based models of measuring learning like the Carnegie Unit. Over the summer, PXU Superintendent Dr. Chad Gestson and key district leaders joined educators from across the country in Palo Alto, California, for a convening of the Carnegie Learning Leadership Network (LLN). The focus of the network, which is part of the Foundation’s larger Future of Learning initiative, is to support, showcase, and study systems that are creating engaging, equitable, and effective learning experiences for secondary students. The group chose Phoenix Union as the first location to study the PXU portfolio of schools—including PXU City, which offers students the only flexible scheduling model in the state. At PXU City, students partner with their counselors to create a schedule that fits their needs, including the opportunity to take classes both in person and online.

The Carnegie Unit was developed in 1906 as a measure of the amount of time a student has studied a subject. For example, a total of 120 hours in one subject—meeting four or five times a week for 40 to 60 minutes, for 36 to 40 weeks each year—earns the student one “unit” of high school credit. Fourteen units were deemed to constitute the minimum amount of preparation that could be interpreted as “four years of academic or high school preparation.” Since the establishment of the Carnegie Unit, it has become the core currency of the educational economy—influencing the entire education sector. Carnegie, PXU, and a national network of school systems are working together as members of the LLN to discover more effective ways to prepare young people for the future, where learning is effective, engaging, experiential, and outcomes-based.

“Phoenix Union has become a national leader in education, and we are pleased to provide our students with innovative and creative learning models,” said Dr. Gestson. “Working with the Carnegie Foundation to reshape the school day for students across the country will produce the flexibility to meet the demands of an ever-changing workforce.”

“We are thrilled to be visiting the Phoenix Union High School District with the Learning Leadership Network,” said Ash Vasudeva, the Carnegie Foundation’s Senior Vice President of Strategic Initiatives. “We are excited to witness the rigorous, innovative, experiential, and transformational learning happening in this district. We look forward to working with PXU and our other LLN districts in the coming years as we push our understanding of what a high-quality, career- and college-aligned secondary education looks like.”

“Phoenix Union is a true pathfinder,” added Carnegie Foundation President Timothy Knowles. “They are reimagining schooling for all young people, so they can go on to find wealth-generating careers and lead purposeful lives. We are privileged to work in partnership with PXU and the Learning Leadership Network to bring the future of learning to life.”

About the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching