Transition Hub

While planning for the transition of 9th-grade scholars, we formed a transition committee.  One of the recommendations from the team was to create grade-level teams.  Grade-level teams provide an opportunity to cohort scholars with shared teachers at the 9th-grade level.  The high school schedule is complex. This approach creates an opportunity for teachers to work closely together to support the academic growth of each scholar on the team.  It allows an opportunity for closer relationships with teachers and peers.  Our survey data indicates that relationships are an area of opportunity for growth at HHS.  Teacher teams are one strategy to strengthen relationships at HHS. Further, our schedule for the 23-24 school year is designed to have a common school-wide time that allows for our Link Crew to engage in transition activities during the school day that supports academic and character development. 

Additionally, all scholars will be scheduled into grade-level advisories with the same year long teacher. This ensures that important grade level information and support are available for scholars.

• Families should communicate with your scholar. It’s a good practice to check in with them on how school is going. Developing and maintaining a positive relationship with your child will help you notice if there are any concerns academically or socially.
• It’s also a good idea, if you haven’t already, to check on their attendance and grades.
• Studies also show that being involved in school activities help scholars develop teamwork, communication, and leadership skills. We recommend you encourage them to get involved in school activities. 
• Also, please know that you can always email our teachers and school counselors for updates and communication. You can always schedule time to meet your scholar’s teacher and counselor to identify strengths and areas of support.

Yes, in the early 2000’s Hopkins High School had over 2,000 scholars in this building. We anticipate being able to accommodate everyone including the additional grade level.

The first day of school is Tuesday, September 5, 2023. This week will include opportunities for scholars to learn the rituals and routines of Hopkins High School. Grade level class meetings will be held the first week of each term with important information about academics and social and emotional learning.

Before registering, make sure that you have made your own copy of the Registration Request Google Sheet by clicking on the Rising Freshman or Sophomore buttons below.

• If you already have a copy of this, please continue to the registration steps below.  
• Please make sure to share your version with your advisor.

Not at this time. Hopkins High School will also not have International Baccalaureate grading practices.

Juntos and XinXing at HHS

Thank you to all parents who participated in the listening sessions. We have worked collectively with our Juntos and XinXing staff to understand what our scholars, families, and caregivers request in immersion experiences.

2023-24 9th Grade Juntos

We will add a Spanish language science course option to our current course offerings. This addition will allow for a full-year immersive experience for our 9th grade Juntos scholars.

2023-24 9th Grade XinXing

We will add a Chinese culture class option to our current course offerings. This addition will enrich and expand upon the current 9th grade AP Chinese Language Culture coursework and allow for a full-year immersive experience for our 9th grade XinXing scholars.

Registration Steps

Immersion scholars will be automatically placed in the newly added immersion classes. Families and scholars do not need to make registration updates.

All courses use the same grading curve as listed below.  Hopkins High School calculates cumulative and term GPAs on a 4.0 unweighted scale.

Hopkins High School will not have International Baccalaureate (IB) grading practices.

• Pass (P) and No Credit (NC) are not included in the GPA Calculation.
• Ø refers to no score attributed to GPA Calculation. 
• GPA is calculated by dividing the sum total of the GPA value of grades earned by the total number of grades earned.

Converting IB Grading

A committee recommended that IB grades will not be transferred to letter grades. A four year high school transcript will start with the incoming 9th grade Class of 2027. 

A Hopkins High School graduate successfully completes 54 credits in Grades 9-12. Specific course requirements vary depending on graduation year.

Usually the most overwhelming thing about the college and career preparedness process for scholars and families is not knowing when to do what. The following includes a list of some of important tasks and milestones for scholars to accomplish during each grade-level at Hopkins High School:

Freshmen Year

• Schedule introductory meeting with school counselor
• Explore career interest inventory results
• Participate in small group options presented by the counseling office
• Get involved in activities that relate to your your personal passions or intended major/career path
• Complete 16 credits

Sophomore Year

• Meet with school counselor two times (either in small group or individual format)
• Use Naviance to explore career pathways
• Attend grade-level presentation at HHS
• If 4-year college is a possibility, begin college visits
• If exploring non-college options, work with counselor to take appropriate courses at HHS
• Take practice ACT at HHS in Spring
• Think about doing a summer experience that will add to your work portfolio or benefit your college application
• Complete 16 credits

Junior Year

• Attend grade-level presentation at HHS
• Take PSAT at HHS (term 1)
• Take ACT prep course at HHS (term 3)
• Take ACT test at HHS in Spring
• Explore what summer experiences are available that will help your pathway (Term 1)
• Apply for summer experiences (Term 2, 3 or 4)
• Meet with school counselor/Dr. Kuhl two times TOTAL (either in small group or individual format)
• Request letters of recommendation if needed
• Complete 16 credits

Summer between junior and senior year

• Open a common app account if needed
• Retake ACT, if needed
• Begin writing essays, if needed
• Know deadlines for your pathway and mark them on your calendar

Senior Year

• Work towards completion of your personal plan
• Complete all graduation requirements
• Have parents/guardians/caregivers complete FAFSA form or any other necessary financial aid documents by November 31, if possible
• Walk in graduation ceremony

Scholars must obtain 54 credits to graduate from HHS.  This requirement will not change due to the grade configuration change.

Since the start of the pandemic, our school board has approved a waiver to reduce the number of credits required for graduation for scholars who needed it. This is a practice adopted by many school boards in the state. The waivers have not allowed scholars to graduate with fewer credits than MDE requires.

At Hopkins, we know that true mathematics learning needs to be grounded in conceptual and procedural understanding and building mathematical mindsets. We are moving toward a model that prepares our learners for the complexities of the problems they will be faced with. While many adults in learning spaces may have had math based in speed and symbols, we are preparing our learners to think deeply, to model ideas with pictures, manipulatives and symbols, and to find ways to communicate their thinking to others.

While mathematics might look different than it has in the past, the opportunities for our learners in Hopkins are vast. In neighboring districts only a select group of scholars have access to AP Calculus. In Hopkins, our scholars entering high school can take AP Calculus AB and AP Calculus BC, AP Statistics, and Multivariable Calculus. The affordance of our condensed block schedule allows scholars to prioritize their academic passions. With that said, this coursework is very rigorous. This means that we need to take time prior to high school to study mathematics at a greater depth. Our work in elementary and middle school is to study in greater depth and to build connected conceptual and procedural knowledge.

See below for a full list of Math courses offered to Hopkins High School scholars.

Hopkins High School will continue to run a 4-block schedule (4 academic blocks that are credit-bearing) with a common advisory time. More information about the final daily schedule will be shared at the end of the current school year. 

The school year is divided into four 9-week terms. Courses are offered in lengths of either 1 (9 weeks), 2 (18 weeks), 3 (27 weeks), or 4 (36 weeks) terms. Music and selected courses offered by other departments are held on an alternating (Blue/Silver) day schedule.

Hopkins High School will start at 8:40 AM and will end at 3:25 PM. The following table lists the start and end times and bussing arrival and departure times for each school.

*VitualEDU Blended Learning bussing TBD

• August 30, all day: Orientation for 9th, 10th, and new scholars (more information will be shared)
• August 31, 3:30-5:30 PM: Back to School Night

This year, all Hopkins High School scholars will be invited to engage in digital learning days one Thursday each month. On digital learning days, scholars will have the choice to attend school in person or access school virtually, thus having more control over the time, place, path and pace of that day’s learning. These days will be self-paced with teacher support and office hours available throughout the day.

For your planning purposes, you will find a PDF of the district calendar at this link. This calendar identifies digital learning days. These days are also part of our electronic calendar, which you can subscribe to. 

Why Are We Doing Digital Learning Days? We are launching digital learning days for a variety of reasons, including an increased need for professional learning time for teachers as well as a desire to provide scholars with more flexibility in how they learn. An intentional result of teacher learning will be ensuring scholars benefit from increased rigor, personalization, and instruction aligned to college and career demands. Digital learning days will be designed to add value to scholar learning and teachers’ professional growth. In consultation with the Minnesota Department of Education as well as our District leaders and school staff, there are specific outcomes we intend to make happen. These intentional outcomes include:

• Scholars will practice critical skills around independent and self-directed learning, self-management, organization, and planning.
• Scholars will prepare for workforce and college environments that require agile movement between in-person and remote work/learning. 
• Families may choose to leverage this time to make personal, medical, mental health appointments, and/or college visits.
• Scholars will spend more time on content in each class. This is due to a minor schedule change for the 23-24 school year, moving from 5 to 4 blocks each day, resulting in more minutes of teaching and learning within each content area. With digital learning days, Hopkins High School will continue to meet the state’s instructional time requirements.
• Teachers and staff will engage in professional development to maximize their skills and abilities to provide rigorous, personalized and relevant, college/career-aligned teaching and learning for all scholars.
• Teachers who have never taught 9th graders or are teaching a new course or program will have increased time to learn the best practices that yield success. 

As the first digital learning day, September 21, draws near, you will receive more detailed information about how scholars will make their choice and how they will check in with teachers regarding their self-paced learning whether they are in school or learning from home.  During these days scholars will be required to engage in learning activities. To continue to foster a culture of high expectation and accountability, attendance will be taken and required assignments will be evaluated. We know most scholars prefer in-person learning and love occasional flexibility. We hope this model will help meet all scholars’ needs and preferences. And, again, families will have a choice.  

• Classlink: Classlink is used by scholars and staff to quickly access a library of programs, applications, and resources offered by the Hopkins Technology Department.
• Canvas: Canvas is our district-wide learning management system. Using Canvas, teachers can collaborate to build world-class, scholar-centered experiences delivered in person, at a distance, or blended learning. Canvas allows each scholar's learning to be in one central place including their class assignments. In addition, parents are able to observe and access their scholar's classroom experience. More information here.
• Infinite Campus: Infinite Campus provides instant access to accurate, current, and confidential information about your scholar's school attendance, final grades, scholar class schedule, lunch balance, and more. More information here.

Hopkins Student Nutrition Services offers both breakfast and lunch programs that meet Department of Agriculture guidelines. Hopkins High School features a full kitchen where our cooks can prepare meals from scratch. We also partner with local farmers to bring fresh foods to our scholar's tables.

Check out the Hopkins Student Nutrition Services page for information on:

• Daily Menus
• Meal Pricing
• Online Payments for Meals
• Special Diet Request Form
• Nutrition Resources
• and more!

Learn more

Special education and support services are available to all learners ages birth to 21 who have not graduated and who have been identified as needing these specialized instructional services.

Our Special Education teachers and support staff provide educational programming designed to meet the needs of our scholars with disabilities. We offer these services to ensure that learners with disabilities receive a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE). Highly trained Special Education teachers and paraprofessionals give students specialized instruction designed for each individual in an Individual Education Plan (IEP).

These service are provided by multiple individuals who are experts in their fields, including:

• Speech and Language Pathologists
• Social Workers
• Psychologists
• Developmental Adaptive Physical Education (DAPE) Teachers
• Work Experience/Handicapped Coordinators
• Occupational Therapists
• Physical Therapists

Scholars are eligible to receive special education and/or related services if the multidisciplinary Special Education team determines that scholars have a disability under one of 13 qualifying conditions and requires special education services. The 13 classification categories are:

• Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
• Deaf-Blind (DB)
• Deaf and Hard of Hearing (D/HH)
• Developmental Cognitive Disability: Mild to Moderate (DCD-MM) or Moderate-Severe (DCD-MS)
• Early Childhood Special Education (ECSE)
• Emotional or Behavioral Disorders (EBD)
• Other Health Disabilities (OHD)
• Physically Impaired (PI)
• Severely Multiply Impaired (SMI)
• Specific Learning Disability (SLD)
• Speech or Language Impairments (SPL)
• Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)
• Visually Impaired (VI)


Lean more about the assessment process, services offered, partnerships, and FAQs here.

Scholars receiving special education services should contact their case manager with registration questions.

Royals College and Career Center

Hopkins High School is ensuring that post-secondary planning is intentionally embedded into each scholar's high school experience so every Hopkins scholar is prepared for success after graduation. One way Hopkins is accomplishing this is through the newly created Royals College and Career Center (RCCC).

The RCCC is funded by the Hopkins Education Foundation (HEF) and run by Dr. Michelle Kuhl, the college and career readiness coordinator. The RCCC works in partnership with the counseling office and the wellness center to streamline and expand on the strong foundation that Hopkins High School already has in place. By adding more integrated classes and opportunities, scholars will be encouraged to think more intentionally and deeply about what they want to do after high school and explore how they will get there. 

• National Speaker Series: Hopkins High School brings in companies like Nike to help Hopkins students better understand careers that might be available to them.
• Royals Prep Class: Royals Prep blends life skills and the college application process. Students not only earn graduation credit, but they must also apply to at least one college as part of the class.
• Direct Admission: Hopkins is one of a few high schools that has this partnership, which guarantees placement to hundreds of participating colleges and universities for Hopkins scholars who are on track to graduate. This program not only offers scholars more choices, but it also takes the stress out of applying for college and worrying that you may not get accepted. The goal is to remove roadblocks that might prevent scholars from applying at all.
• College Prep Workshops
• Job Mentorship Programs
• Personal Finance Classes
• ACT and PSAT Tutoring Programs

Hopkins High School scholars have access to a wide variety of college and career preparation opportunities available. Click on the links below to learn more about these programs and how to apply.

Internships, Mentorship, & Volunteering

• ProPEL: A selective internship and mentorship program that pairs scholars with a mentor in a professional workplace where they can gain real career experiences.
• Community Involvement: Scholars learn through giving service to others by volunteering at schools or non-profit organizations in the community.
• Genesys Works: Internship program consisting of 8 weeks of vigorous training during the summer before scholars’ senior year of high school, followed by a paid year-long professional internship along with focused classroom instruction and one-on-one counseling on appropriate college and career pathways. Scholars will have a schedule that shows Genesys Works in the second half of their day for their entire senior year.

College Credit Options

• Advanced Placement (AP) Exams: Students may take AP exams for college credit and/or so they can take more advanced courses once they begin their post-secondary education at a college or university. Students do not need to complete an AP course to take the AP exam.
• Hennepin Technical College (HTC): High school courses taught at Hennepin Technical college designed to match each scholar’s level of career readiness by focusing on career skill development experiences, including Construction, Culinary Arts, Human Services, Health Careers, Information Technology, and Transportation Careers. Students attend HTC during the day for 2 consecutive terms for 2 blocks to earn 3 credits.
• Post-secondary Education Options (PSEO): Allows juniors and seniors in Minnesota high schools access to college courses. Credits earned at the post-secondary institution are counted both on high school and college transcripts, and can fulfill secondary as well as post-secondary graduation or degree requirements.
• College In the Schools (CIS): 

Additional Tools

• Naviance Student: A web-based college and career planning website available to all HHS students. This site includes college planning tools, electronic transcript request form, and career planning tools. All scholars can access Naviance through Classlink.
• Hopkins High School Local Scholarship Application: Each year, Hopkins seniors have the opportunity to fill out the Local Scholarship Application, which can qualify them for approximately 50 local scholarships awarded by community members and local organizations to Hopkins seniors. Awards range from $250 - $2000 and are based on a wide range of factors depending on the awarding individual or organization. To be considered, graduating seniors must complete the application form.

Please visit our transportation website for district wide transportation information. School starts at 8:40 and ends at 3:25. Drop-off and pick-up information will be available at our Back to School day in August.

 Bussing

Hopkins High School busses will arrive at 8:25 AM and will depart at 3:35 PM. The following table lists the start and end times and bussing arrival and departure times for each school.

*VitualEDU Blended Learning bussing TBD

Bus Transportation Form
All families that are enrolled in Hopkins Public Schools are asked to fill out a bus transportation form. If your child does not need transportation, please complete the form and select "Bus Not Needed." 

Bus Route Assignments
The transportation department will contact families regarding their assigned bus stops, bus numbers and approximate bus pick up times. You will also be able to look them up using your scholar's district username and password. If you do not know your child's credentials, reach out to the Hopkins Technology Help Desk at 952-988-4111 on school days between 7 a.m.- 4 p.m.

If you have questions regarding your scholar's bus assignment, please email the Transportation Office at SchoolBus@HopkinsSchools.org or visit the Transportation web page.

Bus stop change requests
If your bus stop change request is based on a change of address, please contact the District Enrollment Department to make the address change first. Enrollment Office: Enrollment@HopkinsSchools.org or 952-988-4110. Find the bus stop change request form here.