- National report identifies Utah as a national leader in preparing high school graduates for future success in college or careers.
- Report salutes state’s efforts to provide concurrent enrollment and work-based experiences to Utah high school students.
- Utah high school students would benefit from "next-generation assessments" that measure competencies along with academic knowledge, according to the analysis.
Utah’s high schools are, of course, charged with teaching students the basics of math and science and how to analyze literature or historical documents.
But high school goes beyond course instruction. It also doubles as a preparatory lab for a student’s future success in college, careers and life.
Now a recent national analysis examining all 50 states suggests the Beehive State is earning “good grades” — maybe a solid “B+” — in aligning Utah high school students’ experiences with post-graduation academic, professional and personal opportunities.
Released by the nonprofit, nonpartisan XQ Institute, “The Future is High School: A Strategy for State Leaders to Accelerate Learning, Work and American Responsibility” report promotes state policies that can foster postgraduate success for American high school students.
“States have more opportunity, responsibility, and authority over public education than at any time in recent memory — and Utah is showing the entire country what’s possible when leaders focus on high school,” said Russlynn Ali, CEO of XQ Institute in a Utah State Board of Education release.
“With 232,000 job openings to fill each year, Utah isn’t waiting around to unlock new opportunities for students — because they’ve realized that high school is the future of everything.”
Added State Superintendent of Public Instruction Molly Hart: “We are focused on empowering every student to graduate with the skills, knowledge, and confidence to reach their full potential and thrive in whatever endeavor they choose next.”
The study, noted the State Board of Education, points out several areas where Utah has established “supportive conditions” for student success:
- Expanding opportunities for personalized learning, allowing students to demonstrate mastery and earn credit through competency-based approaches.
- Strengthening postsecondary pathways, including direct admissions initiatives that connect graduates with Utah’s public institutions of higher education.
- Increasing access to college-level coursework through the Statewide Online Education Program.
- Supporting real-world learning, such as work-based experiences and youth apprenticeships that help students connect classroom learning to career exploration.
XQ high school report: Focusing on Utah
In its state companion to its 2026 National Report, XQ calls Utah “a national leader in the shift to a personalized, competency-based system of education.”
XQ identifies 10 policy actions that states must implement to have “the most transformative positive impact” on their high school students. Utah meets six of the suggested policy actions — and partially meets two others, according to the report.
The state has “not yet met” two other policy actions: “Community-Led Redesign” allowing for flexibility and guidance to empower innovations, and “Next-Generation Assessments” that measure competencies along with academic knowledge and skills.
Utah is one of 10 states that fully meet six policy actions. No state had seven or more.
Analysis highlights — plenty of ‘checks’
The Beehive State earned a “check” on the study’s “Mastery-based Credits” policy action calling on states to grant school districts flexibility to “credit earning based on competency” — rather than simply seat time.
“Seat time” refers to policies where students are awarded credit for completing a course that meets for a defined number of hours during the year, whether or not the student has fully mastered the knowledge and skills taught in the class.
States driving “a new vision of high school teaching and learning can adopt policies that give all districts the option to instead award credit for demonstrated mastery of academic knowledge, skills, and durable competencies,” according to the report.
Utah, the report added, grants its local school boards authority to establish competency-based education programs.
Another key policy action: Aligning high school graduation requirements with college eligibility for the state’s public higher education institutions and directly admitting students.
In 2024, the Utah System of Higher Education launched “Admit Utah” that allows every high school student in the state admission to at least one of its 16 public higher education institutions, regardless of GPA.
Weber State University, for example, already automatically admits graduating high school seniors from Davis, Morgan and Weber County high schools. No need to formally apply.
Utah also earned kudos in the XQ policy report for offering high school students opportunities to earn postsecondary credit while still in high school.
The state’s concurrent enrollment program — which is funded under an annual state appropriation — makes college courses available to high school students for both high school and college credit, according to the Utah System of Higher Education.
The high school credit counts toward graduation and becomes part of a student’s high school transcript.
Utah high school students can also earn credit for work-based learning such as internships and apprenticeships.
Meanwhile, the XQ analysis reported that Utah is “making progress” in redesigning student transcripts to communicate the full breadth of student competency.
“To lay the groundwork for new, more meaningful student transcripts, Utah could develop the necessary technical infrastructure to support new forms of assessment and a credentialing system — such as stackable badges — to replace traditional high school transcripts.”
“Badges” are digital, verified credentials that represent specific skills or milestones mastered by a student.
The XQ’s Utah report concludes with an educational challenge at a moment when AI and other technologies are disrupting the local workforce and the world:
“State leaders can empower high schools to meet the moment.”