Hopkins Creates!

Hopkins Creates! (formerly HAP) is a close-knit learning community at Hopkins High School, specifically designed for students who thrive outside of a mainstream school structure and want to take control of their educational path.

With smaller class sizes, self-guided learning, and devoted teachers, HC operates like a small family. The Hopkins Creates! community encourages one another to build on their academic success through freedom, agency and relevance and developing scholarly relationships. HC offers students who may or may not thrive in a typical classroom setting a way to tap into their true academic potential.

The focus of the student's learning experience in Hopkins Creates! centers on the development of their critical thinking, self-direction, collaboration, and creative skills in order to meet course standards and competencies. Students need to have a desire to do school differently and an interest in learning in order to succeed in Hopkins Creates!

Two students sit at a table doing a puzzle.

Program Highlights

General Information

Any high school student may enroll in HC courses. Full time membership requires an application and interview with the program coordinator.
HC is designed to build an educational program for students that utilize the strengths of both regular and alternative class offerings. All or part of the HHS graduation requirements may be met through the program.
Students have the option to participate in any other educational option available to Hopkins High students.

Credit

Students earn credit by completing projects and coursework that meet the competencies assigned to each seminar, course or independent project. A single seminar or project can earn full or partial credits by demonstrating proficiency or mastery of those competencies.
Advisors and the program lead will regularly meet with students and parents to ensure that the student is making adequate progress toward graduation.
Full-time students can earn at least four credits a term in Hopkins Creates.

Courses

Tutorial: We recommend that every student interested in Hopkins Creates! enroll in the tutorial in order to learn how to design and complete projects, how to meet standard and course requirements via projects and personalized learning, and in order to build community.

Interdisciplinary Seminars: Multiple interdisciplinary seminars may be taken each term. These will allow students to look at special topics through the lenses of multiple disciplines, earning credits in various subjects simultaneously. Potential seminars may include: American Horror Stories, Afrofuturism, Alchemy - the Nature of Matter & its Changes, Chemistry in Our World - Weather & Toxins, American Genocides, Save the Bees, Immigration: Are borders necessary?, Lit History, Criminal Injustice and more.

Full term or multi-term independent projects:

Students will work with a HC advisor to develop learning plans with approval from an HHS staff member to engage deeply in their study while learning independence and self-direction. The specific course requirements that need to be met and the scale or scope of the project will depend on student interest and desires. Course may be repeated in the same year for additional credit.

Personalized learn based versions of traditional courses including: HPPL Algebra, HPPL Geometry, HPPL Biology, HPPL Chemistry, HPPL Physics, HPPL Personal Finance, HPPL Health Science

Frequently Asked Questions

1. How is this different from the CLS?
The core difference is that we’re operating as a dedicated PBL program. While we will adjust to student needs and evolve overtime it is not our intent to operate as a laboratory. Our intent is to function as an exemplar of what PBL and personalized learning can do for a wide range of Hopkins students. Additionally, we believe in having a dedicated core of teachers while a lab school concept requires a more frequent turnover. It should be unsurprising that the two programs have some similarities since they spring from similar philosophical backgrounds.

2. Why PBL?
Project based learning has been shown in multiple studies to be effective for all types of students. The programmatic ideals of freedom, agency, and relevance promote learning and student ownership of their experience. It is also an equity based approach as it rejects many of the legacy practices of the industrial model of education.

Project based learning is also an enrichment strategy, which refutes and reframes the traditional assumptions of alternative programming. PBL incorporates the following High Operational Practices:

Identifying and activating student strengths
Building relationships
Eliciting high intellectual performances
Providing enrichment
Integrating prerequisites for academic learning
Situating learning in the lives of students
Amplifying student voice (Jackson, 2011, p. 71).

3. Where did this idea come from?
The core idea for this program comes from 3 places. First, it is the design of a group of HHS students who participated in the first “Create Your Own” cohort in the 2019-2020 school year and the Middle School Summer school program in 2020. Second, it is based on successful Project Based and Personalized learning approaches that were previously implemented with the traditional HAP population between 2018-2021. Finally, it is backed by research and visits to PBL and personalized learning based programs.

4. How would a scholar know if this is for them?
This is a program designed for students who want a smaller learning community, want to reinvent themselves as a learner or who want more control over their education. Students who want to show off a special interest or explore non-standard curriculum. We can teach how to be a self-directed learner and support the process. There is no type of learner who can’t benefit from this program.

5. How does this promote equity?
The basis for this is a rejection of the systems that typically create racially predictable outcomes and curriculum that does not reflect the full humanity of our students. We believe that high-quality project-based learning engages marginalized and underserved students in high-impact practices, which improve learning, self-efficacy, and post secondary success.

We believe there is deep value in continuously reflecting on our existing beliefs about people, the world, and education—and making changes to stay authentic when we have grown.

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6. How big? Students and staff?
We believe the ideal size for this program is around 150 students with a program leader, 4 full time teachers, some satelite teachers and a part time social worker. In the first year we expect smaller numbers.

7. How was this idea developed?
This idea was developed by current and past teachers in the old version of the program based on the work mentioned above. It built on student voice and the principles of Vision 2031 and intentionally kept parts of the old program that were successful and married them to the future ideal of the district.

8. Isn’t the whole school about to be personalized learning?
Yes, and…the building is a long way from every teacher implementing primarily personalized approaches and philosophies in every aspect of what they do. This pathway jumps to a sophisticated and robust personalized and project based model. If the rest of the school eventually adopts our approach we’ll happily go out of business or look for a new way to serve those who are underserved.

9. What courses do you offer?
We offer: Tutorial which is an introduction and how-to for the program complete with a mini-project. Full term long and multi-term projects in areas of student interest. Interdisciplinary seminars which tackle complex ideas through interdisciplinary lenses, Personalized learning based versions of traditional courses

10. Wait, does this count toward graduation?
Absolutely. The intent of this program is that you can earn all of your required credits through our courses and projects.