At Globe High School in Arizona, a new GRAD Partnership school, history is still alive and being created every day.
Cross-posted from Rural Schools Collaborative
April 17, 2025
Located about two hours east of Phoenix lies the scenic town of Globe, Arizona. With a population of 7,200, Globe is a historic silver and copper mining town that sits just North of the Pinal Mountains and serves as the county seat.
Rural Schools Collaborative and GRAD Partnership Intermediary Arizona Rural Schools Association were able to visit in early 2025 to support Globe High School’s (GHS) first-year launch as one of 50 rural schools across the country joining the GRAD Partnership for Student Success. The GRAD Partnership is a national collaboration that supports schools and communities in strengthening their adoption of student success systems. By focusing on relationships, actionable data, and evidence-based practices, these systems help all students achieve postsecondary success.
With Arizona as an open enrollment state, and Globe High School’s remote frontier location, many students commute to school from over an hour away. The high school serves about 500 students, with demographics of about one-third Hispanic, one-third Caucasian, and one-third Native American populations. Globe High School’s historic building is 120 years old and even has an entire room within the school dedicated to the GHS Historic Hall of Fame.
“We’re proud of Globe and we’re proud of our history and our heritage. We have some amazing graduates from GHS and we’re going to continue to produce wonderful graduates.” – Dr. Christa DalMolin East, Superintendent of Globe Unified School District
In fact, Dr. DalMolin East is one such graduate, and was named the district’s first-ever female superintendent this last year. She reflects, “Globe is just part of who I am. . . I love our kids and I want more for them. And I’m not alone– from the assistant principals, to facilities staff, to HR, and transportation – these are all GHS grads that came back because they want to serve our kids.”
Note, Arizona Rural Schools Associations GRAD Partnership Coordinator, Ty White, is also a GHS alum, who overlapped with Dr. DalMolin East. RSC enjoyed their gentle banter about whose graduation picture in the alumni hall was better.
While Globe is not exempt from the many challenges that face rural schools, such as teacher shortages and financing, GHS is also quick to highlight its strengths, including strong support for student post-secondary pathways, including vocational education like welding, nursing, HVAC, cosmetology, and more.
Additionally, the district pays for students to take six credits a semester through the local college, creating an opportunity for many students to graduate high school with their associate’s degree, which lowers financial barriers for other students who may otherwise not be able to go to college. GHS also focuses on helping first-generation college go-ers whose parents may not be familiar with navigating these systems, to apply for scholarships and register for college classes while they’re still in high school. This commitment to student’s postsecondary success made the school a perfect candidate to join the GRAD Partnership.
Combining Relationships with Real-time Data
In his first year as the principal at GHS, Mr. Jeremiah Johnson jumped at the opportunity for his school to engage in holistic student success systems work. While GHS already has a Positive Behavioral Intervention and Supports team and is staffed by many caring teachers, getting real-time data is a major focus for Mr. Johnson. Chronic absenteeism continues to be a challenge for many schools, and GHS is no exception. But by digging deeper into the data, Mr. Johnson found that a miscategorization of absences was making the root causes difficult to decipher.
As part of the first year of GRAD Partnership, he is exploring a new data system to be able to see all student success indicators housed in one place vs. three fragmented systems, and in the meantime is listening to the students directly on what they want and need.
“You’d be surprised how much a strict dress code can keep students out of the classroom. At my last school, we learned to pick our battles for what actually creates better outcomes for the students and teachers. Getting rid of the dress code gave teachers more time to teach instead of enforcing punishments and gave students the opportunity to express themselves, so long as it wasn’t disruptive to learning.”
Mr. Johnson is already meeting weekly with his team to explore how GHS can continue to create a positive, student-centered school culture. From grade-level prizes for most-improved attendance records, to establishing intentional greetings of the students in the hallway, GHS is well on the way to a great start of year one for the GRAD Partnership rural cohort.
Special thanks to Mr. Johnson and Dr. DalMolin East for hosting RSC and the Arizona Rural Schools Association at Globe High School. Learn more about the RSC Hub rural schools cohort.