{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"Career High","title":"The Future of High School: Diversity, Internships, and Post-COVID Education","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":1925,"description":"\nOn this episode of Career High, host Jeremy Smith speaks with Mitch Gross, Principal of Iowa City West High School in the Iowa City Community School District. Mitch shares how his career started in politics and government before he made the jump into teaching, then leadership. He also breaks down how West High is balancing a highly rigorous academic culture with growing demand for internships, trades, and career exploration.\n\nWest High serves about 1,600 students and has been ranked the number one high school in Iowa by U.S. News and World Report for four straight years. Mitch highlights what makes the school stand out. It is a minority majority campus, about 46% white, with a 32% poverty rate. Students and families speak 17 languages. Mitch says the school aims to reflect the real world and treats diversity as a strength.\n\nThe conversation also digs into post COVID shifts. Mitch points to attention span, lingering academic gaps, and a new need to reset expectations around attendance and showing up even when you do not feel great. He notes that behavior and culture are stabilizing, but academic impacts may last for a full generation.\n\nOn career connected learning, Mitch shares how West High is expanding internships for credit, leveraging proximity to major healthcare institutions, and building stronger partnerships with a top tier community college system. He also discusses a key challenge. With a traditional 7 period day, students often have more interests than scheduled slots. That creates tradeoffs between core requirements, electives, and work based experiences.\n\n\nKey Moments\n\n03:05 Rise in Lax School Attendance\n\n08:37 Educational Diversity in Iowa\n\n11:25 \"Rethinking Career Paths and Trades\"\n\n14:21 Shift in Attitudes Toward College\n\n18:39 Career Academies and Dream Accelerator\n\n19:33 Junior Achievement Career Readiness Program\n\n25:04 Beyond Traditional Education Systems\n\n27:24 \"Schools as Society’s Safety Net\"\n\n30:37 Education Systems: Stagnation Across...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/0HG6UF5XKoF54XdQK1i9GnDgbpW-s6fMDPS0W09yY0k/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS8xODQ0/MzM5YTFkMGEyOWE1/MjcyYTAzMjk3MjRh/MWJmOS5qcGc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}