What if high school meant more than earning credits? What if students also had adults helping them figure out who they want to become? Last spring, Edge High School tested that idea with a free Success Coaching pilot for students in grades 9-12. Students and coaches told us it worked, and they asked for more. This fall, success coaching for high school students returns to Edge and expands to both of our Tucson campuses.
How Success Coaching for High School Students Works at Edge
Last spring, Edge launched its first Success Coaching pilot. We trained volunteer adults from our community as Success Coaches and matched each one with an Edge student. The pairs met regularly at school throughout the final quarter.
Success Coaching sits apart from tutoring, and it differs from mentoring too. A mentor often draws on personal experience to offer advice. A coach asks questions:
- What do you want?
- What’s getting in your way?
- What choices do you have?
- What’s one step you could take before we meet again?
- What do you think you should do next?
That last question may matter most. Our coaches don’t solve problems for students. They listen closely and ask inquiry-based, thoughtful questions so students can reflect on where they are and build their own solutions. The goal is young people who recognize they can make their own choices and shape their own futures.
Then We Asked the Students
When the pilot ended, we surveyed participating students. The results got our attention:
- 100% reported a positive coaching experience
- 100% said their motivation and confidence increased
- Seven of eight gained clarity about their future plans
- Every respondent named motivation as an area of growth, and six of eight named confidence
- Six reported better progress staying on track with credits and schoolwork
Students also noted gains in completing schoolwork, decision-making, attendance, and developing a vision for their lives.
The numbers tell only part of the story. Students said coaching helped them break big goals into manageable steps, plan for life after high school, raise their grades, regulate their emotions, and focus on what they can control. One student described their coach as an “accountability partner” separate from family, friends, and school, someone who belonged entirely to them. Another wrote:
“It has given me hope, but more importantly, it has given me time and space to map out plans that help me move towards the life I want.”
Our volunteer coaches told a similar story. They saw students grow in confidence, goal setting, academic effort, resilience, and decision-making, and every coach surveyed said the model benefits students. One described coaching as a chance to simply listen. Another called it a valuable gift for a student who could use another nonjudgmental adult in their corner.
Coaches also asked for more training, more chances to learn from one another, and clearer structures. Students had one request: more coaches, so more students can take part.
Success Coaching Expands to Both Edge Campuses
This fall, Edge relaunches its free Success Coaching with the goal to reach substantially more students at Edge Himmel Park and Edge Northwest.
- October: Returning and new coaches complete an expanded Success Coach training
- Late October to late January: The first student cohort completes six coaching sessions
- February to May: A new cohort begins
Several pilot coaches are returning, and new community volunteers are joining them. Together, they’ll train this October, and throughout the year Edge will bring them together as a Community of Practice to share ideas and sharpen their skills, a direct response to what coaches asked for after the pilot.
Why Coaching Belongs at Edge
Success Coaching may be unusual for a high school, but it fits Edge perfectly. For more than 30 years, our self-paced, mastery-based model has recognized that students learn in different ways and on different timelines. That belief reaches beyond academics, and it shapes the partnerships we build. Edge students can:
- Conduct college-level ecology and hydrology research with University of Arizona graduate students through UArizona Sky School, capped by an immersive experience at Steward Observatory on Mt. Lemmon
- Take college courses through Accelerate ASU at no cost to their families, earning college and high school credit at the same time
- Learn pickleball from All In Youth Pickleball coaches
- Receive grief and loss support through our partnership with Tu Nidito
- Work with an Edge social worker and connect with community resources when challenges outside school get in the way
And sometimes a young person needs another adult who shows up consistently, listens without judgment, asks good questions, and shows through their actions that the student’s goals matter. One student captured it better than we could:
“Knowing I have someone who takes time out of their day to meet with me on a regular basis to listen and ask questions makes it easier to deal with everything else.”
That’s Success Coaching, and that’s very much Edge. Coaching joins our other partnerships in expanding what high school can look like. Students choose what fits them, and our job is to make sure every student finds something, or someone, that helps them imagine what’s possible next.