Academy Model Exploration

Anyone who knows a lot about Hopkins High School knows about the ProPEL program. ProPEL is a popular course that allows students to explore different careers, build their business skills, engage in job shadowing and micro internships, gain hands-on interviewing and problem-solving experience, and build relationships with industry leaders in medicine, business, and more. 

Students who have taken ProPEL love it. Parents love it. This is a cornerstone program of Hopkins High School and our vision is that all students would be able to experience a ProPEL-like course, just one per year, in a way that allows them to explore careers and build skills, but doesn’t reduce their traditional, college-prep options, rather gives them additional advantages to post-high school readiness. The academy model is like ProPEL but for all students.

Hopkins wants to increase its value proposition and prepare ALL students for post-secondary success. Thus, Hopkins is exploring a career academy model with Ford NGL as their guide. Career-connected learning is a powerful way to enrich student opportunity and ensure it aligns with real-world experiences. This approach is designed to ensure graduates leave not only ready for college, but with tangible career experiences and industry-recognized credentials that create real-world value.

Building on the district’s flexible block schedule and strong regional partnerships in high-growth fields such as STEM, business and engineering, health careers and communications, Hopkins has a unique opportunity to expand engaging, hands-on learning that connects career-connected classroom experiences to future pathways. By deepening relevance, strengthening student engagement, and fostering inclusive practices, the district aims to create a distinctive, future-ready high school model that attracts families and ensures every student is prepared to thrive in college, career and life.

The academy model is a community-informed structure that organizes a comprehensive high school into smaller learning communities where students explore careers within thematically-arranged pathways aligned to interests and goals. Rather than experiencing coursework as isolated classes, students engage in cohesive, purpose-driven learning that builds skills and momentum over time.

Within the academy model structure, students ONLY take ONE course per year between sophomore and senior year. The cool thing is that these courses are connected thematically like building blocks that deepen exposure within a career area (business, engineering, medicine or health care, culinary, communications, etc). Just like taking one math course each year doesn’t make a student a math major, taking one career course each year doesn’t mean a student is suddenly majoring or specializing in that career. These are exploratory courses designed to build skills and interest, yet will ideally yield a meaningful credential.

Through project-based learning and interdisciplinary teacher teams with dedicated collaboration time, students benefit from deeper connections, stronger relationships, and more integrated learning. The model also expands employer partnerships into a coordinated, schoolwide strategy. Employer and business partnerships ensure every student has access to authentic, real-world experiences and the opportunity to earn industry-recognized credentials that add value beyond graduation.

The academy model is guided by high-quality research and exemplary practice refined across dozens of communities within the Ford NGL network. A primary comparable district is Nashville, Tennessee, where traditional high schools with demographics similar to Hopkins were successfully transformed to the academy model, providing a proven blueprint for teacher teaming and student cohorting. Academy model schools have experienced increases in student attendance, engagement, achievement and graduation.

• An academy model would benefit Hopkins students by closing the "relevance gap," providing a more purposeful high school experience where students can pursue their passions through career-connected pathways. 
• Also, instead of just earning a diploma, students would graduate with tangible value, such as industry-recognized credentials, college credits, and professional skills gained through direct interaction with local employers. 
• The model would be aligned to our Hopkins graduate profile: Traits of a Hopkins Scholar, including critical thinking, global awareness, and confidence informed by real-world experiential learning. 
• Additionally, the creation of smaller learning communities, like a freshman academy, ensures students feel better connected to their school and receive more personalized support. Ultimately, this academy approach aims to ensure all students, whether high-achievers or those furthest from educational opportunity, are fully prepared for college, careers, and life.

The Academy Model is designed to coexist with current programs. The district's four-block schedule provides the flexibility for students to complete a career pathway sequence while still enrolling in Advanced Placement (AP), PSEO, fine arts, and world languages. The high school currently offers 250+ courses, therefore some existing career-aligned courses would serve as cornerstones for the academies while other low-enrollment courses may be repurposed with greater career-connectedness.

Career and Technical Education (CTE) courses are already rigorous because they are real-world relevant and often require students to build new skills in order to solve complex problems. Therefore, courses within a career academy would strengthen an already rigorous, college-preparatory pathway. The district's flexible four-block schedule is central to strengthened rigor, as it provides "open blocks" for students to complete a career pathway while still enrolling in traditional college-preparatory courses such as Advanced Placement (AP). 

For 4-year university-bound students, career-based courses add tangible value to the high school transcript through industry-recognized credentials and professional experiences. These experiences help college goers hone in on or rule out potential college majors before graduation. Ultimately, the model aims to develop Hopkins scholars who possess the critical thinking and global awareness necessary to succeed in a competitive post-secondary environment.

Yes, this particular academy structure would require all students to elect one academy, although there are different approaches to strengthening career-connectedness at a high school. A key goal is to have students complete a career or thematic pathway during their high school career, ensuring every student graduates with a clear plan that has tangible value.

Students would typically select their career or thematic pathway during the registration process of their ninth-grade year after they have thoroughly explored all academies and multiple careers as part of the Freshman Academy experience. Then, they would participate in an academy from sophomore to senior year.

At Hopkins High School, we would structure the academy model to offer significant flexibility that accommodates students if their interests change while ensuring students remain on track for graduation. Because Hopkins utilizes a four-block schedule, students can earn up to 64 credits over four years which is 10 credits more than the 54 required for graduation. This credit surplus provides a buffer that allows students to explore and even rule out different career areas or switch pathways without falling behind on their graduation requirements.

Per year for up to 4-5 years, a partnership with an experienced facilitator to help us implement an academy model would cost about $120,000. There are potential additional costs in training teachers and developing courses, however Hopkins High School is allocated a professional development budget each year and there are also already established CTE teachers and courses at our high school that would be foundational for these academies.

Revenue Sources: Perkins (Career and Technical Education) funds are federal dollars provided under the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act to support and strengthen career and technical education programs. Districts receive an annual allocation based on a federal and state formula, and spending must align with an approved local CTE plan and needs assessment. Perkins funds are intended to supplement general education funding. Districts may be reimbursed for eligible expenses that directly improve CTE programs, such as industry‑standard equipment, curriculum development, teacher professional development, student certification and assessment fees, career exploration activities, and support for special populations. Our Business Development & Grants Officer is also identifying grant funding sources to help fund expanding career learning opportunities at Hopkins High School.

To ensure the Academy Model is financially sustainable, Hopkins Public Schools would treat it as an ongoing structure to more fully support and prepare students, rather than a new program. This approach would require the District to focus on realigning some existing resources rather than a complete addition of new costs.

Ford Next Generation Learning (Ford NGL) provides a structured five-phase Roadmap Process and a community-connected framework designed to align teaching, school culture, and community partnerships. Their services include professional coaching, capacity assessments (Phase 1 & 2 Envision & Explore visits), facilitated community convenings, and technical scheduling training led by experts from successful districts like Nashville and Racine. They also provide "readiness indicators" to help district leadership self-assess their progress toward full implementation.

The value of this partnership lies in providing Hopkins with a proven blueprint. No one inside of Hopkins currently has the capacity to drop what they are doing and research our system to determine readiness or implement career academies. This requires the expertise and capacity of an outside partner. Additionally, access to a national network of communities, helps demystify what could be a complex implementation process. Ford NGL assists the district in aligning stakeholder vision, identifying a convening organization to sustain the work, and providing examples of the logistical features needed for structural shifts like teacher teaming and student cohorting. Ultimately, the partnership helps Hopkins move from isolated pockets of career exploration to a systemic approach that ensures all graduates are prepared for college, careers, and life.

The district is assessing staff readiness and capacity through the Ford NGL Roadmap process, which began with a Phase 1 Envision visit by external coaches to evaluate existing resources and organizational structures. This assessment included focus group conversations with teachers, counselors, school administrators, and district leadership to identify internal strengths and systemic challenges. Key findings highlighted a veteran faculty with strong student relationships, but also revealed a disconnect regarding relevancy and coherence of student learning and student support. 

The district is utilizing Ford NGL’s readiness indicators for ongoing self-assessment, specifically monitoring the high school leadership team’s capacity to successfully lead the staff through a process to improve career-connected learning. The readiness indicators also require the District to assess the system’s willingness, vision, alignment, and capacity to build and sustain career academies at the high school.

If our District elects to transition to the academy model, Hopkins would provide a multi-year program of intentional professional development for teachers, counselors and other staff focused on structural shifts and new instructional methods. Specifically, all academy team members including teachers and counselors would receive training in Highly Effective Teaming and Project-Based/Inquiry-Based Learning. 

Counselors and teacher team leads will receive specialized training in Distributed Leadership, while those involved in logistical planning have already and would continue to receive Master Scheduling training to learn the nuts and bolts of creating teacher teams and student cohorts. Beyond formal training, the model provides structural support through common planning time, which allows interdisciplinary teacher teams to collaborate regularly on student needs and curriculum integration.

The evaluation of whether the academy model is a good fit for Hopkins High School will include high school leaders and staff, district leaders, student input, parent perspectives, community and industry leaders, with the formal authority to proceed resting with the School Board.

While the exploration is inclusive, the final decisions are structured as follows:

• School Board: As the governing body of Hopkins Public Schools, the seven-member school board holds the final authority to formally approve implementing an academy model at the high school.
• Superintendent, Cabinet and High School Principal and her team: District and school leadership serve as the primary recommenders to the Board. They assess program fit and when the high school would have the capacity to lead staff through the change and ensure the operating budget can sustain the academy model.

To respond to a bit of community feedback, we are extending the current exploration and learning phase through the summer and into the fall. The District will not engage the School Board in a consideration to move to a potential planning phase until Fall of 2026. Extending our current exploration and learning will give breathing room, give time for the new high school principal to participate in the April 24 Learning Convening, and allow the new superintendent time to get to know the community. This additional time will also allow the District to deepen its knowledge and understanding of the academy model – both what it is and what it isn’t. 

The impact on students is planned as a multi-year phase-in focused initially on the 9th grade:

• 2027-28 School Year: Incoming freshmen will experience the best practices of Freshman Academy, such as being organized into teacher teams, Freshman Seminar, intentional college and career exploration, and student cohorts to improve engagement, attendance, connection and achievement.
• 2028-29 School Year: Students, beginning with sophomores, would begin to experience the academy structure, and the benefits of having formally selected a career pathway.
• Each year thereafter will result in additional students being added to newly constructed academies until the school is cohesively organized according to the design provided by the Hopkins community.