November 11, 2025 | By Kyra Caspary and Hui Yang

A new collaborative effort between SRI and Center for the Future of Arizona (CFA) is focused on developing coherent, accessible secondary school preparation for cybersecurity careers that encompass aligned secondary to community college course sequences. This Research-Practice Partnership (RPP) includes education partners Sunnyside Unified School District, Pima Community College, and University of Arizona, located in a culturally and linguistically rich community of Tucson in Southern Arizona, as well as the nonprofit AZ Cyber Initiative.

Jobs in cybersecurity provide living-wage, family-sustaining careers across a variety of industries; the median annual salary for an information security analyst was $124,000 in 2024.¹ This sector is growing quickly in Arizona and across the nation, with a projected 29% increase nationally in the number of information security analyst jobs alone by 2031.² Although these jobs typically require a bachelor’s degree, other positions may provide entry points to cybersecurity careers for students who are not interested in or ready to pursue a college degree. For example, Advance CTE’s Top Employer-Requested Credentials dashboard shows that the CompTIA Security+ certificate is one of the most commonly requested credentials by employers in two industry sectors in Arizona—Arts, Entertainment, and Design and Digital Technology.

Yet despite the growing demand for cybersecurity professionals, obtaining entry-level positions can be a challenge for high school and community college graduates. Stronger collaboration between secondary schools, higher education, and industry is needed to ensure that students graduate with the skills and experience they need to secure a job that will lead to a career in cyber.

With funding from the National Science Foundation, the AZ Cyber Pathways RPP will research and inform the design of effective secondary school preparation for cybersecurity careers. The partnership will develop strategies to grow and strengthen cybersecurity career preparation in ways that tap into the diversity of student backgrounds found in the Southern Arizona region.

By bringing together partners’ expertise in computer science curriculum and pedagogy, workforce development, secondary-to-postsecondary systems alignment, and systems change, the AZ Cyber Pathways RPP will establish a research agenda and engage in cycles of research and continuous improvement. This partnership will identify the core skills and competencies needed for regional cyber careers and how to create course sequences that support high school students to develop these skills. The long-term goal of the partnership is to develop a model for cross-system collaboration and research for creating education pathways that prepare students for careers in cybersecurity.