That bothered Jacqueline Kronk, CEO of the clubs in St. Joseph County, so she leapt at a chance to add students this summer as part of statewide expansion of a promising Indianapolis effort.

Started in 2021 to help students catch up after the pandemic, the Indy Summer Learning Labs will receive more than $5 million from Indiana to expand into the Gary and South Bend areas, along with more rural Salem and Wabash. The five-week mix of academic work and fun activities for first through ninth graders has grown each year and is credited by the state with giving students strong gains in both math and English. 

The “Expanding What Works” grants let Kronk grow her program from 1,500 students last year to 2,500 in five counties around South Bend. She has also hired more teachers from local schools and upgraded the program’s curriculum.

“We’d be foolish to not address the fact that COVID and the implications of that are still here and rampant amongst our young students…and their ability to learn and thrive,” Kronk said. “We should be really, really scared about that reality and realize that we need to be throwing all but the kitchen sink at this issue.”

The nonprofit The Mind Trust and the United Way of Central Indiana created the Indy Learning Labs in 2021 for 3,000 students at 35 sites around the city, allowing students a chance to catch up on lost school time. The labs also offer field trips and other activities students in more affluent students can afford.

The labs have grown each year and The Mind Trust expects to have up to 5,500 students at 49 sites in the city — schools, churches, youth centers, or nonprofits — this summer. Though there are no income limits, nearly 90 percent of children qualify for free or reduced school lunches, a common measure of low family income, allowing the labs to reach families eight times less likely to enroll in summer programs than affluent ones.

Summer programs like the labs have been a widespread strategy for cities and school districts to catch students up after the pandemic. A found more than 70 percent of school districts have added or expanded summer programs since the pandemic, making them the most common use of federal COVID relief dollars.

Results are usually low on math and reading gains, but a new study this week found large gains last year from the Summer Boost program funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies in eight cities, including Indianapolis.

Researchers have found the small reading and math improvements in summer programs are often because programs don’t offer enough academic work.

Results from both the Bloomberg study and last summer’s Learning Labs are more promising because the programs offered more academic work — about three hours a day devoted to math and English instruction.

Bloomberg based Boost on the Indy Summer Learning Labs and sponsored the labs last summer. The study did not include any lab programs.

The Bloomberg study found 22 days of summer learning helped students make, on average, three to four weeks of reading gains and about four to five weeks in math gains.

That let students make up 22 percent of COVID losses in reading and 31 percent of math, researchers estimated.

The Learning Labs had previously released data from tests given to students at the start and end of the program. Last year, those tests showed proficiency rates in both math and English increased more than 20 percent during the program.

Organizers credit time spent on learning, hiring teachers from local schools to teach some of the sessions and using a curriculum carefully chosen to align with state learning standards for the gains.

Those results, along with the ability to add more students and upgrade the curriculum were all appealing in South Bend, Kronk said.

“The impact that we saw that it had down in Indianapolis for the last several years and for us to be able to scale and replicate that and bring that to counties that we’re serving up here…that really excited us,” she said.

Indianapolis parent Chavana Oliver said the labs were a huge help last year for her son Leanno, 7, who was about to enter first grade but has issues with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and needed extra help.

“He saw a lot of improvement,” Oliver said. She signed him up again this year, as well as her older son Kaden, 8. “ Now he’s very excited, because it will help even more for the second grade.”

Deborah Hendricks Black, a former teacher who helped the Urban League and others apply for the state grant to bring the labs to Gary, said the test score gains and reports from parents in Indianapolis like Oliver caught her eye. The grants will allow 750 students from high-poverty Gary and surrounding communities including East Chicago to avoid summer learning loss and catch up when behind.

“Now we’ll have a chance to at least affect a small amount of students,” she said. “But we know they will be supported effectively with a proven curriculum that provides gains in a short amount of time and we’re looking forward to that.”

Cassandra Summers-Corp, executive director of the Creating Avenues for Student Transformation (CAST) nonprofit in Salem said her rural area about 100 miles south of Indianapolis has a lack of tutors to help students who have fallen behind. Her organization has offered summer programs focused on reading lessons to about 40 students in surrounding counties the last few years. The new grant will let her add math classes and grow to 75 students, along with increasing from three days a week to five.

“We really wanted a partner to help us to expand,” Summers said. “Even though a lot of COVID learning loss money is sunsetting, we know that the crisis of COVID learning loss is not over.”

Disclosure: The Mind Trust provides financial support to The 74.

Butler University is adding a bachelor’s degree in nursing, the university announced May 20, in an effort to address Indiana’s nursing shortage.

According to the , Indiana would need to graduate 1,300 additional nurses annually until 2030 to meet demand. 

“All of this evolved from rising to the need of a huge shortage, but also realizing that Butler was in a unique position to offer a quality education to students in a traditional four-year degree,” said  Butler’s inaugural nursing program director.

Several other Indianapolis colleges and universities offer nursing programs, including , ,  and . 

Carey said Butler plans to differentiate itself by giving clinical experience to nursing students in their first year. If students are working in clinics and hospitals early, Carey said, they’ll be more set up to get health care internships during school or nursing jobs after they graduate — ideally in-state. 

“We’re hoping to keep students in Indiana or in the Indianapolis area, giving back to that community who’s given to them during our education,” he said. 

Butler nursing students will be exposed to a variety of nursing specialties, including OB-GYN, pediatrics and behavioral health. As a graduation requirement, students in the Butler nursing program also will have to complete a short-term apprenticeship, called a preceptorship, under a fully qualified nurse. 

How to apply

The program will welcome its first class of nursing students in fall 2025, and the application will open Aug. 1. The school has been approved to start 48 students in the first class, Carey said. 

Students interested in the program should apply to Butler through the . You’ll select your choice of major as nursing, where you’ll be directed to answer a few additional questions. 

Spending at least four hours every week at the pet hospital, Sylvia’s internship is an ideal example of how the charter school’s mandatory award-winning Firehawks Internship and Real-World Experience (FIRE) program can work.

Along with about 110 other juniors and seniors — who helped with office jobs in insurance, child care, construction or social services — Sylvia did more than just clean cages and feed animals at Keystone Pet Hospital. She quickly learned how to meet with families and give dogs and cats basic physical exams and shots.

“It was incredible,” said Sylvia, who is interning with the pet hospital again as a senior and hopes to work there full time after attending Purdue University. “I got to put myself into the vet’s shoes.”

Victory’s program is a leader in Indiana in connecting high school students to workplace experiences, even for a state that’s made work-based learning a priority in recent years and hopes to transform high school by making it a centerpiece of student’s high school experience. The Indiana Department of Education gave Victory and the program one of three Excellence in Student Pathways awards last fall.

Now in its fifth year, the program places students each spring with three dozen businesses and nonprofits as part of their regular school week, busing them to workplaces when needed.

“What sets us apart here is this is compulsory for 11th, and 12th graders,” said Andrew Hayenga, the school’s chief development officer. “It’s not reserved for the top 10% of kids. It’s not reserved for the kids who may want to go into a trade. We’re trying to open the possibilities up to every student in 11th and 12th grade.”

Rahul Jyoti, the school’s readiness director, said many schools might balk at giving up class time for 11 Fridays out of a 40-week school year to career exposure, often out of worry that students’ test scores in math and English might suffer.

But Victory considers it a crucial part of students’ education, particularly those who are low-income; and whose parents don’t have connections in high-paying fields. Jyoti said many students were graduating without knowing what careers they could seek or chose majors in college that weren’t leading to good fits for them, so the school needed to step in and help.

“We know the academics are important, but we realized that no matter how strong their academics are, if they don’t have that networking, professional experience and the soft skills, they are not able to be truly ready to go to college and truly ready to grow into a career,” Jyoti said. “Taking away those days throughout the year actually helps them to be more prepared on all the other school days.”

“We ended up having our juniors and seniors be the most professional students, being more successful in college, and being really engaged in presenting themselves after they graduate because they’ve had so many of these experiences,” he added.

Businesses and nonprofits have stepped up to take on student interns, with many participating in the program year after year.

Chad Miller, managing director of Miller Insurance Group, said his small business couldn’t take on a full-time intern, but Victory organizes the program, has students go to businesses for a reasonable amount of time and even gives employers a guide on how to help students.

“This is a commitment that I feel like I and my team can bite off and it’s sustainable for us and hopefully provides a value to them,” Miller said. 

Shamika Buchanan, owner of Intelligent Minds Child Development, said interns at her daycare center “have been amazing.” She tries to have students learn both about child care and how to run the business.

“They’ve learned a lot,” Buchanan told other businesses as the program launched for the year in the fall, “We’ve grown together. I’ve even employed some over the summer to come and work for my childcare.”

The pet hospital has also asked Sylvia to fill in for absent employees outside of her internship.

“Our relationship has grown incredibly strong,” she said. “They always rely on me for multiple things, so I’m excited to be part of their group.”

Victory can’t always find such perfect matches for students, Jyoti admits, since there are a limited number of employers volunteering for the program. So the school tries to find close or related matches, and stresses that time in any workplace develops skills students can use anywhere.

“I tell the students, you are not necessarily learning about the field you’re interested in, but it’s still a really valuable experience,” Jyoti said. “Being successful in any field requires skills in a professional way that you’re going to learn. And most of our partners are small business owners that have a lot of different areas and functions in their business. So students, even if they are not 100% sure of what they want to do, can find something to be engaged with at their site.”

Senior Devin Stewart, who will attend Purdue University to pursue a career in cybersecurity and information technology, is one of those students who did not have a direct match to his career plans. After interning with a public relations firm as a junior, he’s interning with a community development and affordable housing nonprofit as a senior.

But he doesn’t mind because he’s learning how businesses work.

“I think it’s gonna be valuable for me,” he said. “My mom has always had an idea for me to start a business on my own, so with business development, and things of that nature, it’ll help me have the skills that I need to potentially start a business if I want.”

The kids can hardly sit still. It’s “Green Eggs and Ham” day at the Martin Luther King Community Center’s after-school literacy lab.

Remnants of the afternoon activity — making green-dyed Rice Krispies Treats — decorate the kindergarten and first grade students’ fingers and faces. The lesson, paired with reading the Dr. Seuss classic, is meant to help students build connections with what they see in books.

“We use it as a life lesson and a learning lesson, and Dr. Seuss books are full of it,” said Jonna Lee, a youth worker with the MLK Center, after the early March exercise. “Today was learning to try new things.”

The MLK Center began its literacy lab eight years ago to support a school that staff noticed was struggling in the neighborhood.

James Whitcomb Riley School 43, about a block west of the MLK Center, has some of the highest needs in the Indianapolis Public Schools district. Last year, state records show only about a third of School 43 students passed Indiana’s third grade reading exam and 86% of students received free and reduced priced lunches, an indicator used to track school poverty.

Community leaders and alumni say they have watched for years as IPS budgets have tightened and staff have come and gone. Rather than stand by, they decided to help. An education committee formed, volunteers reopened the school library and the MLK Center launched its after-school literacy lab — a program that operates independently but collaborates with IPS to support students.

And now, with new grant funding and a growing partnership with Butler University, that collaboration is expected to grow. MLK Center staff say they’ll be able to expand their work with the kids who need it most.

“We try to make it fun and creative for them to see things in a different way,” Lee said of her students. “To understand that they are still learning, but we’re having fun doing it.”

MLK Center offers more than tutoring

As a school, James Whitcomb Riley has seen some recent wins with slightly more students passing the state’s third grade reading exam this year. But, the school still reports some of the lowest reading scores in IPS.

Just 35.3% of School 43 students passed the third grade reading exam last spring, state records show, falling more than 20 percentage points below the IPS district average of 60.6% and more than half that of the state average, 81.9%.

About a dozen staff serve more than 70 elementary students from School 43. Their five-days-a-week program incorporates literacy instruction on Tuesdays through Thursdays with one-on-one tutoring provided to students who are returning to the program for their second year.

More than 90% of students come to the literacy lab below reading level with little understanding of skills like shapes and letter sounds, said Lacrisha Hollins, the center’s youth programs director. When students stick with the program for at least two years, Hollins said, tutors are generally able to help students catch up to grade-level reading.

Youth workers like Lee do it by pairing play with literacy lessons. The goal is to get them learning without overwhelming them after a long day of school, Lee said. That means also incorporating activities into lessons, watching movies and taking time to go outside when the weather is nice.

Lee said she also tries to keep her plans flexible — something that might be challenging for a classroom teacher following a set curriculum schedule. If a student’s having a hard day at home or is struggling to learn a certain concept, Lee said she has the freedom to change her lessons as needed.

“They’re all experiencing different things, and we want it to be a safe place for them when they come here,” Lee said. “I’ve built a lot of relationships with the kids that I have and that opens up to them being trusting.”

MLK Center leadership said they see addressing the school’s literacy gaps as a matter of civil rights, and their work follows the Martin Luther King, Jr., philosophy of the , creating opportunities where no one is excluded.

That means the center takes all students, regardless of their family’s ability to pay for services, and provides extensive wraparound services, such as free snacks and meals. They also pick students up from school, bring them to the center for programming and drop them off at home at the end of the day.

During the summer and school breaks, the center offers extended hours with field trips and three meals daily. It also provides mental health resources — partnering with social work interns from local universities like IUPUI and Indiana Wesleyan University who work in the center during tutoring hours — and makes referrals to other community providers for more extensive support for families who need it.

“We don’t just provide tutoring,” Hollins said. “We provide health support for mom, dad, whoever’s in the household, free of charge. We provide for if they need shelter, if they need to pay their gas. We just provide any and everything for the whole family to be successful.”

Community partnership extends into School 43

The MLK Center’s partnership with School 43 extends beyond its after-school programs. Center staff and some of their volunteers — students from Butler University — also visit James Whitcomb Riley during the school day.

That means students who are in the MLK Center’s after-school program get reading support three times a day, Principal Crishell Sam said: once during class, again during volunteers’ visits and a third time after school.

Community volunteers were trained in IPS’ new reading curriculum, Sam said, so tutors and teachers know that they’re teaching students in similar ways.

It comes in tandem with community-led efforts to support the school, including a group of alumni and retired teachers who several years ago helped the school reopen its library with volunteers. Butler students and alumni now run it twice a week. The group meets monthly with the MLK Center team and school leaders as a part of a neighborhood education committee that seeks to compare efforts in literacy and family engagement.

The layers of community support come during a time of transition at School 43. James Whitcomb Riley will shift from a pre-K through eighth grade school to a pre-K through fifth grade elementary school next year under the district’s Rebuilding Stronger reorganization plan. 

Most middle schoolers will go to Broad Ripple or Northwest next year rather than School 43.

As a first-year principal, Sam has also brought in new employees and is working with them to introduce the new reading curriculum recently adopted across IPS. She also plans to hire a media assistant so that the library can be open five days a week next school year. The community partnerships will continue.

“I believe that everyone that’s been hired to be here, they can do the work,” Sam said.”But the work can’t be done in isolation.”

Plans for growth

The MLK Center, which built its program with a goal to turn no one away, now has a waitlist. 

It happened for the first time last year with more than 25 interested students, said Israel Shasanmi, deputy director of the MLK Center. That waitlist is at about 20 students, with more who have informally expressed interest in joining the program.

The center’s leaders are considering an expansion to support its child and adult programs. They’ve only begun the early stages of fundraising but renderings of a proposed expansion with a gymnasium and additional classrooms line the center’s lobby.

The literacy lab also received a major boost this year after its partners at Butler received from the Lilly Endowment to help School 43 adopt its new reading curriculum.

Butler officials say they’re still deciding how to spend the money. But Danielle Madrazo, with Butler’s College of Education, said they may use part of the funding to train Butler students and faculty who volunteer at the MLK Center and School 43’s library.

The grant will also support hiring two positions that will directly support the MLK Center. One will be a trained literacy specialist and the other will focus on relationship building with families.

“We have vision for supporting literacy in our community and our neighborhood,” Madrazo said of the partnership. “I’m excited for us to do big things for kids.”

Mary Dicken, the MLK Center’s advocacy and engagement director, said her team is always looking for volunteers, and the center accepts donations to support its literacy programs. The center also offers regular tours to allow the community to see tutoring in action.

More information about getting involved is available on . A tour of the center can be scheduled by emailing GetInvolved@MLKCenterIndy.org

This was originally published in .

This article was originally published by , and is republished through our partnership .

An Indianapolis nonprofit called  has launched a program to help Black educators buy their first homes. 

The idea sprung from conversations with educators who said low pay drove them away from teaching, CEO Blake Nathan said. While his organization, which is dedicated to building diversity among teaching staffs, can’t help educators earn higher salaries, it can provide financial support for other living expenses. 

Nathan said the organization’s long-term goal is to grow its support for Black educators in an effort to help build generational wealth within the community. If successful, Nathan said, those results could trickle down to students.

Studies have shown that having greater representation of Black teachers in classrooms can positively affect student performance, suspension frequency and graduation rates, Nathan said. In IPS, for example, Black educators make up 20% of the district’s teaching population while more than 40% of students are Black.

“We have to find ways to retain those Black teachers because we understand the importance of having Black teachers in our school systems,” Nathan said. “This is a true testament of philanthropy to circulate the dollar to get it directly into the hands of the beneficiary who needs it most.”

The program, called , will cover closing costs of up to $5,000 for homes in the Martindale Brightwood area. Educate ME is partnering with the Martindale Brightwood Community Development Corporation to offer educators early access to view the organization’s inventory of new homes before they’re listed on popular real estate websites like Zillow. Nathan said the neighborhood organization has more than a dozen new homes on track to be completed by the end of the year.

Educate ME also will sponsor down payments for existing homes in the neighborhood and is interested in partnering with other Indianapolis-area community development corporations in the future.

The Teacherville program funds Black educators — including teachers, counselors and school support staff — working in any Indianapolis school. To be eligible, educators must meet certain income and credit score requirements.

Educate ME also partners with the Indianapolis Neighborhood Housing Partnership to connect teachers with resources for homebuyer education classes and support for credit building, regardless of their income levels.

“The homebuying process can be very overwhelming to anyone,” Nathan said. “What we want to do is think about, ‘How can we streamline this process? How can we make this process less intimidating for a teacher?’”

Nathan said Teacherville set an initial goal of supporting 25 educators and now has at least 10 others on a waitlist. The program, however, is still adding to its waitlist and Nathan encourages educators to apply through the��.

The initiative is supported by a gift from the African American Legacy Fund of Indianapolis and the donor advised fund of the Indianapolis Foundation, which provided $100,000. Educate ME is now seeking community donations to fund down payment assistance for educators on the Teacherville waitlist.

Larry Smith, president and CEO of Indianapolis-based  said the program seeks not only to help recruit and retain teachers, but also to contribute to the resurgence of the Martindale Brightwood area.

He said he and other community leaders were drawn to helping Educate ME because of its plans to scale up support beyond Teacherville’s initial donations.

“We don’t have millions and millions of dollars,” Smith said. “But, in terms of helping to attract, recruit and retain teachers, we felt that we could have a real impact.”

Programs that add hours and support to the school day, are especially critical for low-income students who were set back the most during the pandemic, according to the report, “The Expanded Classroom.” Those students’ families can’t pay for tutoring, museum visits, and arts activities that more affluent families can.

“The classroom has been the primary venue for helping students learn, build relationships, and develop skills for the workforce,” according to the report. “But in the current era, such activities must transcend the classroom to help kids fully recover from learning loss, close longstanding achievement gaps, and prepare students for 21st-century careers.”

Only one quarter of Indiana students are able to attend these programs, the report found, but many more should be added, not reduced, as will happen if money runs out in the next two years. 

“Effort must be sustained over years—not months—to make up for the lost time of the pandemic and to begin to chip away at a decades-old gap in educational outcomes between high- and low-income students,” states the report, a joint project of the United Way of Central Indiana, the Boys and Girls Clubs serving South Bend and Indianapolis, and nonprofit education advocacy groups The Mind Trust and Indiana Afterschool Network.

Since the start of the pandemic, the state has devoted $35 million of federal COVID relief money to out-of-school learning, plus another $185 million in state money. The federal money runs out next fall and the state money runs out in the summer of 2025.

Mind Trust officials said they hope the report rallies support for out-of-school learning with legislators ahead of the 2025-2027 state budget debate. The report doesn’t ask for a specific amount of money or for money for any particular program, just for understanding the importance of learning outside of the school day.

“It’s really to make sure that our state leaders, legislators and others are thinking about the out-of-school time programs in Indiana as an important part of the ecosystem, and not as something that is just a time-limited program that’s about COVID recovery, and nothing else,” said Mind Trust chief strategy officer Kristin Grimme.

State Rep. Bob Behning, chairman of the House Education Committee, said there’s support for programs outside of the school day in the Legislature. But he cautioned there will be competition for money in the next budget.

“I would predict it’s going to be tight, tighter than we’ve had the last couple of budget cycles,” Behning said. “So you’re going to have to really define not just the need, but that there are gains. Once you can define the academic gains. I think that there would be more interest.”

Grimme agreed and said programs need to be evaluated and money should go to those that were the most successful. Some programs have evaluations pending while others have emerging data on their academic impact that should be reviewed next year.

Adding academic gains is extra important because Indiana’s recovery from the pandemic has “stalled,” the report contends. Though state test scores have improved since 2021, reading proficiency rates fell slightly between 2022 and 2023 while other gains were small.

 Indiana also saw college enrollment drop from 65 percent of graduating high school seniors before the pandemic to 53 percent in 2020–21.

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The report highlights the Indy Summer Learning Labs the Mind Trust and United Way have organized in Indianapolis using state money the last three years. That five-week program serving more than 5,000 students in 43 different sites around the city shows double-digit gains in proficiency rates in the tests students take at the start of the program and at the end.

Last summer, the labs saw 23 percentage point increases in students scoring at grade level or above in English and 22 percentage points in math.

The state will soon take applications from organizations around the state to expand that summer program to other cities, though money set aside for them ends in 2025.

Indiana Learns, another program that gives $1,000 grants to low-income parents to spend on tutoring or afterschool programs for their children, is being evaluated now to see if it needs changes. With more than 10,000 students using more than 100 different tutoring providers, Grimme said, it’s hard to know if Indiana Learns is reaching the right students and if they are getting what they need.

“I do think it’s something that we launched quickly to try to support students and families across the state,” Grimme said. “Is it the version of the program that the state should sustain in the future?”

Since making its public debut last year, ChatGPT has profoundly impacted my perspective on generative AI in education. As a writer and former high school English teacher, I experienced an existential crisis watching the chatbot effortlessly generate lesson plans and rubrics — tasks that would have taken me hours to accomplish. 

Generative AI allows educators to move beyond traditional learning systems and provide a more responsive, personalized learning experience in which students demonstrate mastery, not just passing grades. 

“The future of AI in education is not just about adopting new technologies; it’s about reshaping our approach to teaching and learning in a way that is as dynamic and diverse as the students we serve,” XQ Institute Senior Advisor Laurence Holt said. He also formerly worked in the education, business and technology sectors. Through AI, we can also transcend the limitations of the Carnegie Unit — a century-old system in which a high school diploma is based on how much time students spend in specific subject classes. 

Changing that rigid system is our mission at . We to transform high school learning so it’s more relevant and engaging while also preparing students to succeed in college, career and real life. We recently co-convened a two-day summit with the Emerson Collective, in partnership with MeshEd and Betaworks, to bring educators and innovators together in a collaborative space — envisioning ways to use AI technology for transforming high school redesign. Those ideas and insights are available to explore .

After a year’s worth of conversations and observations with educators, our AI convening and , there is much to share with educators to help them make the most of the rapidly evolving ecosystem of artificial intelligence. Here are seven AI in education trends to be aware of next year.

1. Professional Development 

Throughout 2023, for educators remained high. In 2024, we should see an avalanche of districts and schools providing their educators with AI professional development materials to integrate these tools into their teaching practices.

At , an XQ school in Sanford, Florida, ’s Sarah Wharton visited to present interesting ways to think about AI in the context of the school. 

“We looked at ChatGPT as a possible tutor, personal assistant, creative tool and research assistant,” said PSI High School Coordinator Angela Daniel. “In our PD session, we considered how these cool applications could be used in classrooms as learning tools that accelerate learning and teach the tool simultaneously.”

Daniel explained that teaching students how to use AI is a first step that will change things for students going forward.“But to really get at the heart of that question, we need to understand how generative AI can change our processes and resources right now,” she added. For the team at PSI, that means learning how to use generative AI effectively with ongoing support as the application continues to evolve.

Workshops, online courses and collaborative learning communities are also increasingly popular for providing educators with hands-on experience in AI.

Want to stay on top of trends to help you rethink high school? Check out the XQ Xtra, a newsletter for educators that comes out twice a month. .

2. Formal AI Policy 

Integrating AI in classrooms is no longer a matter of “if” but “how,” making it imperative for educators and policymakers to navigate this terrain with informed and responsible strategies. However, the landscape of AI policy development — especially regarding education — has been dynamic, if not lagging.

The Council of Europe has continued for equitable policy and practice, an area where . New York City Public Schools, after initially banning ChatGPT, is now , focusing on issues such as privacy and cybersecurity. Recently, the Biden administration issued an executive order to guide the U.S. in leveraging artificial intelligence. This directive emphasized AI safety, privacy, equity and responsible use, signaling a shift in how AI is integrated into sectors like education. However, it is likely that AI policy in education will develop on a location-by-location basis first.

3. Open-Source Tool Development

Concerns about AI’s ethical implications and biases are sure to shape policy goals. One way to alleviate those pressures is the expansion and increased use of open-sourced tools — programs where the code is accessible and can be modified. , however, expect the conversation to focus less on the output of AI tools and more on .

Ensuring AI tools are equitable and inclusive goes beyond technical challenges — it requires continuous dialogue among educators, technologists and policymakers. This conversation is essential for addressing data privacy, surveillance and ethical use of student data. With a democratized, open-source marketplace, we could see the market promote as they grow in popularity.

4. Frameworks for Teaching AI

Before the start of the 2023-24 academic year, educators and schools were waiting for a . As policy moves forward in 2024 and more institutions develop professional development materials to train and support educators, expect to finally emerge. Frameworks like are being developed to guide the integration of AI in education. These frameworks focus on and promoting equitable access to technology, ensuring that AI complements and enhances student learning experiences.

5. AI Literacy, Competencies and Standards

With AI becoming more prevalent in various sectors, including education, there’s a growing need to integrate AI literacy goals and specific learning outcomes into school curricula. This involves teaching students how to use AI tools and understand the basics of AI technology, its applications and its implications.

At the network, an XQ partner with three campuses in Indiana, CEO Keeanna Warren explained how equipping staff and students with the knowledge and skills to harness AI’s potential promotes effective and responsible use of AI to enhance learning experiences.

“We firmly believe that our students’ innate curiosity drives their desire to learn, and we trust their integrity,” she said. “If AI can be used for cheating, it reflects a flaw in the assessment, not in our students’ character.”

The challenge lies in integrating AI literacy into an already packed curriculum. However, the opportunity to foster critical thinking, problem-solving and ethical reasoning skills through AI education is entirely possible.

6. AI-Powered Adaptive Learning Systems 

One of the more exciting pathways with AI is that student learning experiences will become more uniquely adaptive and personalized with a quicker turnaround. But creating effective programs requires training these systems on some level of student data -– a delicate balance.

As policy formalizes how student data gets implemented into these programs, AI-driven adaptive learning systems will emerge to shift instructional practice. Expect these programs to appear prominently in assessments and curriculum packages before evolving into real-time feedback systems that can inform teachers even during a lesson.

7. Custom GPTs Built By Educators

While all these advancements are promising and exciting, the marketplace for AI-driven ed tech tools will become incredibly crowded quickly. Recently, OpenAI’s maker space for building and using custom GPTs, which both use and are built by ChatGPT, is guaranteed to be a massive disruptor.

Ty Boyland, school-based enterprise coordinator and music production teacher at Crosstown High, designed a custom GPT. (Crosstown High is another XQ school in Memphis, Tennessee.) Boyland’s students use Dall-E, an AI system for generating images, with GPT-4 to create designs and prints for student-driven projects. 

“But how do you create a project combining culinary and music production?” Boyland wondered. His customized GPT pairs with Tennessee State Standards to build a new project.

It will be interesting to see what educators create in this space to resolve pain points teachers and schools are intimately familiar with and what gets made to help schools achieve their vision and mission.  

The Bottom Line for Educators

From policy shifts emphasizing equity and privacy to the emergence of AI-driven curricula, the transformation is palpable. We’ve seen how AI can revolutionize and disrupt classroom practices, empower educators through professional development, and create inclusive, personalized student learning experiences. But the burgeoning AI ed tech market demands discernment. , choosing tools that genuinely enhance learning and align with ethical standards.

As we enter 2024, educators and stakeholders face a challenge: keeping pace with AI and engaging with it thoughtfully to catalyze educational excellence instead of just putting a new face on old practices. It’s the primary reason we at XQ convened so many educators and innovators into one space— to rethink high school by harnessing the potential of our AI-powered future. We look forward to sharing more with you in the coming year. 

Do you want to learn more about how to rethink high school? The XQ Xtra is a newsletter for educators that comes out twice a month. .

Disclosure: is a financial supporter of The 74.

Repeatedly , the state legislature ordered Indianapolis education officials to rethink the mission of high schools. 

Current graduation requirements will be thrown out next year and new ones calling for more career preparation will take their place.

“Are the four years of high school as valuable as possible for students?” state education secretary Katie Jenner asked in an interview with The 74. “I’ve yet to meet a person who said, ‘Yes, they are.’ Most people say … if high school looked different for students, then we could better connect them to what’s what’s next.”

“If that’s the case, then what barriers do we need to get out of the way?” she continued. “How can we transform it in order to make it better for students.” 

Jenner said having students spend time in workplaces to see what careers fit them, or earning career credentials, will help both students and businesses.

“That’s really what we’re trying to think through in Indiana, to not only better support Indiana students, but to also be mindful of Indiana’s talent pipeline,” Jenner said.

Republican State Rep. Chuck Goodrich, who helped lead the charge earlier this year to create a key piece of the new focus — $5,000 Career Scholarship Accounts that sophomores, juniors and seniors can use for career training — said students need better opportunities to gain skills.

“Giving students hands-on applied learning opportunities and the ability to earn a credential before graduation is a game changer, not only for the student, not only for the family, but for Indiana,” Goodrich told the state Senate this spring.��

Indiana already has a requirement students show “demonstrable employability skills” to graduate from high school, but it currently counts playing on a school team, other extracurricular activities, community service, an after-school job or a capstone research project the same as doing an internship or apprenticeship.

The new requirements will be more work and skills-focused.

The Career Scholarship Accounts are an early piece of the overhaul the legislature passed this spring in House Bill 1002. The bill contains another immediate change — requiring schools to teach students more this upcoming academic year about career planning, available training programs, scholarships, and different jobs available, “with an emphasis on high wage, high demand industry,” according to the new law. 

Major parts of the overhaul, particularly which career preparation steps should be required to graduate and which just encouraged, are still to be determined.

The Indiana education department is holding focus groups with parents, educators and businesses about how to shape the new vision and should have proposals for the state board to discuss early next year. New graduation requirements will be set by the end of 2024, Jenner said, to kick in for the class of 2029.

Among the key items being discussed:

• A greater emphasis on students’ job shadowing, internships and apprenticeships that only “a tiny percentage” of students experience now, according to Jenner.
• Changing the courses required to graduate.
• Requiring more meeting time with career counselors or businesses
• Requiring students to earn credentials for careers before graduating.
• Piloting “mastery” approaches to measuring student progress, throwing out traditional A-F grades, replacing them with tracking student progress toward their mastery or competency of skills. Workplace skills like teamwork and critical thinking would be measured, not just core subjects like English and math.

The efforts are attracting some national attention. Patricia Levesque, CEO of the Excellence In Education Foundation, visited Indianapolis this fall to praise the state for being a national leader in preparing students for careers, not just college.

Though Indiana is better than other states in helping students earn credentials, she warned too many students are being guided to many credentials businesses aren’t seeking.

“Nearly 60 to 70 percent of the credentials earned by high school students that year had no value,” she said of Indiana. “No company was asking for those credentials, right? Students were earning something that didn’t have currency in the marketplace.”

Some legislators say they are concerned the overhaul is more an attempt to help businesses find employees than help students.

“This rethinking, reimagining of high school is our attempt at filling these jobs to me,” said Democratic State Sen. Shelli Yoder before voting against House Bill 1002. “We’re doing a disservice for students. And that’s not to say we don’t need to reimagine it … It’s going to help the workforce. But is it helping students?”

Schools, like Victory College Prep high school in Indianapolis, are already on board with the main idea of the change. That school has placed every 11th and 12th grader in internships with companies or nonprofits for 10 school days a year the last five years, other than some pandemic adjustments.

“We really believe here that graduation is not the end goal for our students,” said Rahul Jyoti, the school’s chief readiness officer. “We don’t want them to celebrate and say, ‘Hey, I graduated. This is great’. Because then real life hits you, especially for a lot of our students that come from the underserved communities, here in Indianapolis, and so really, this is the starting point.”

Jyoti said his school has been able to find 25 and 40 employers a year to host students, but wonders what will happen if every school in the state tries to find similar opportunities for every student.

Jenner said connecting with enough employers willing to take on the work of running internships or apprenticeships will be a challenge. 

“One of the threats is that we transform the high school diploma and…readiness for Work Based Learning … and there aren’t there aren’t enough spots for kids,” she said.

Solving that issue is a big part of her work this fall and was a key reason the state sent delegations to Switzerland, where school and business cooperation on apprenticeships is a part of the culture. She said work based learning experiences may need to be different for different industries and may have to evolve over time, but the state has to start somewhere.

“We’re getting after it because we have to and we must for kids,” she said. “We’re going to learn some lessons along the way and we’re gonna keep getting better from there. But we can’t wait to get started. We have to go. We have to try some things.”

But then COVID struck. 

Thomas had trouble learning the subject online: She mastered some of the material two years behind schedule.  

“I always did really well in math — until I entered high school,” she said. “Because of COVID, I had to learn so many things on my own, especially in my ninth-grade year.”

Despite this challenge, Thomas remained a focused and determined student: She’s already earned an associate degree from Ivy Tech Community College and hopes to attend a top-ranked school next fall, possibly Columbia University, to which she applied early decision.

Thomas’s struggle with mathematics mirrors that of students throughout the nation: Test results released in June charting long-term trends show 13-year-olds have suffered tremendous losses. The NAEP scores unveiled in October 2022 revealed a five-point decrease in math for fourth graders and an eight-point plummet for eighth graders, the largest drops ever recorded.

Disparities along racial lines were significantly worsened by the pandemic and the alarming outcomes for Black students on state exams in Indiana, where Thomas lives, prompted the state’s NAACP last year to release an plan to address long-standing inequities. 

Last year, in Indianapolis, Thomas’s city, passed both the math and English sections of the state’s tests. Recent state assessments show a majority of children in Indiana cannot meet minimum math standards: Just 41% of students in grades 3-8 scored proficient or better in the math portion of the state’s ILEARN exam. 

In Indiana and across the country, educators and advocates are searching for ways to make the subject more relevant and engaging — and less a source of failure. 

Some are working to address persistent obstacles for low-income children and students of color by re-evaluating their requirements and offerings. To that end, many are providing students with additional pathways — not just one road leading to calculus, a course whose value is being questioned, even for those students who seek a career in STEM.  

Thomas is among BELIEVE’s 300 students, most of them children of color: 51% of the charter high school’s student body is Black while 41% are Latino. Nearly all qualified for free or reduced-price lunch last school year. 

Thomas is currently enrolled in Advanced Placement Statistics, excelling in a class she believes will one day help her to better her local community. 

She’s glad her school offers numerous rigorous mathematics courses and plans to continue with the subject in college where she seeks to study journalism, education and law. Thomas is one of seven children: Hers is the first generation to attend college. 

The 74: Do you think it’s possible to skip your freshman year of college after earning so many college credits in high school?

Jania Thomas: I’m hoping that I could move into my sophomore year. It just depends on the college that I get accepted to and how many of my credits transfer over.

Tell me how you’ve done in math through the years.

Before high school, math was, for sure, my favorite subject because it was something that I quickly latched on to and that I could understand. It’s not like the sciences or reading because it’s all stats. You just have to understand the steps. I always did really well in math — until I entered high school.

And what happened then?

Because of COVID, I had to learn so many things on my own, especially in my ninth-grade year. That’s when the letters came into it: sign, cosign, tangents and triangles. I really struggled, especially my freshman year and into my sophomore year.

Did that improve when school resumed?

I was better in the classroom environment. I started to get it because I had more one-on-one time with my teachers. I had to learn things that I thought I knew from my ninth-grade year in my sophomore and junior year.

How have you done since?

When I took my college algebra class at Ivy Tech, I really enjoyed it. It was more focused on degrees, measurements and numbers.

Many students in previous generations were told to take calculus to qualify for top-tier schools. Did you ever hear that?

I’m really glad to have the opportunity to choose the math classes I want: I have more autonomy over the courses I can take. I’ve spoken with my counselor, and she’s never said that.

What role do you think math will play in your professional life?

I don’t know what specific field I want to go into, but I like dealing with finances.

I want to fight against inequality within the American system. I know I’m going to have to understand a lot of concepts pertaining to money, which is all math.

But you want to pursue the subject for other reasons, right?

I want to be someone you could come to if you’re struggling. I want to start a tutoring program. I’ve tutored before and I want to be able to help students in all subjects. If I stopped learning math now, I wouldn’t grow (in that area.) I would rather have a growth mindset than one that’s stagnant.

How far do you plan to go educationally?

I want to get at least one doctorate. I’ve always told myself I will be in school for the rest of my life because I enjoy being in the classroom environment. I’ll just be getting degree after degree after degree, not trying to reach a limit, but just trying to attain the most information that I can so that I can apply it to the real world and teach it to other people.

Are you concerned about paying for school?

That’s one thing that’s given me a lot of anxiety in my senior year. My school is focused a lot on trying to help us fill out scholarships. I’m just going to fill out as many scholarships as I can my senior year and while I’m in college.

In Indianapolis, the NCAA also partners with local TV station WISH for an “I Love to Read” challenge that encourages third graders to log their daily reading time. This year, more than 30 Indianapolis schools participated from five districts. The NCAA entices students and schools with prizes ranging from Scholastic Books and Visa gift cards to invitations to college basketball games.

Over the last decade, reading scores in Indiana have been on a steady decline, to the point of stagnation. This year’s state Reading Evaluation and Determination (IREAD-3) test results showed that third-graders’ scores rose just 0.3% from 81.9% proficiency last year, and that number hasn’t improved much in years. Earlier this year, the state passed HB 1558, a science of reading bill that places greater emphasis on phonics than context clues and guessing. Since third graders who aren’t proficient in reading by the end of the school year are to graduate from high school on time and more likely to drop out altogether than those who are proficient, the NCAA hopes to help teachers by encouraging students to spend more time reading.

Earlier this month, nearly 5,000 eager third graders filled the Indiana Farmers Coliseum for a showdown between Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis and Spalding University. During the free event, which Indiana-Purdue won 70-63, encouraging messages from college student athletes and even celebrities like Taylor Swift and Usher played during timeouts and halftime to promote the importance of reading daily. The third graders are invited to attend another game Nov. 20, hosted by Butler University. 

At the game, which was preceded by a pep rally, each student was given a free book to take home. Other prizes include thousands of dollars in credits from Scholastic and new books for school and classroom libraries.

Victor Hill, the NCAA’s associate director of inclusion, education and community engagement, said the organization decided to develop the literacy program after superintendents of Indianapolis’s four districts emphasized the impact the national reading crisis was having on their schools. The NCAA launched the program in Houston in 2016 with more than 7,000 students from Title I schools, and since then more than 300,000 students nationwide have participated. 

“We don’t want to take credit for what the teachers do, but they did say the competition really sparked an interest in a lot of the kids, and they saw kids reading who hadn’t been reading before,” Hill said. “They sent us pictures of kids reading during lunch, during recess, and the school library saw a spike in books being checked out.”

In Indianapolis, the response from students and teachers has been overwhelmingly positive, even from students not in third grade. The competitions get the entire school excited as they cheer on the third graders to read as much as possible. But Hill said the biggest challenge is getting parents to initiate at-home reading. Through ads on WISH-TV and announcements geared to parents at the pep rallies and basketball games, the NCAA encourages families to read with their children for at least 30 minutes a day, hoping the excitement will continue when students are home.

“We tell the children during our pep rallies, ‘If your parents, your brothers or sisters are busy, if you’ve got a cat or a dog, sit and read to them. Read to your goldfish. Just read,’” Hill said.

It could be the carpets on all the floors. 

Or even the framed prints hung on the schools’ walls of fine art from around the world. 

The Paramount Schools of Excellence have a lot of “bells and whistles,” as one parent put it, that make them look and feel different from other elementary and middle schools. 

Few schools have miniature farms out back, after all.

But observers and school leaders say more fundamental differences have made the network of schools — which will grow to six schools by fall — a fast-growing and top performer in the city. 

All that coming from a single school started in 2010 that was warned that its D and F grades could shut it down. That school, now known as Paramount Brookside, has since received nine straight A ratings before the pandemic halted Indiana’s letter grades for schools. The U.S. Department of Education named that K-8 school a in 2018. Parents now drive their kids there every day from half an hour away. 

Paramount now has another elementary school and another middle school in the city, whose proficiency rates all far exceed those of the Indianapolis Public Schools by a wide margin. It added an online school and just opened new schools Aug. 1 in two other Indiana cities, Lafayette and South Bend. Paramount is also creating an innovative new all-girls STEM school in partnership with the Girl Scouts to open in 2024.

“There’s a culture, there’s a vibe, there’s a climate that is palpable in each of the sites,” said Danielle Shockey, CEO of the Girl Scouts of Central Indiana, who sought Paramount as a partner in the new school. “They all have this feeling of just calm, but yet exciting reverence to the opportunity to learn. That’s the foundation to what leads to the strong academic outcomes.” 

Shockey, a former teacher and former deputy state superintendent, said Paramount’s academic results, teacher training program and ability to replicate its success at multiple schools drew her.

Tommy Reddicks, the founding CEO of the schools, credits more nuts and bolts reasons for success than the flashy trappings of goats, cheese, and paintings. 

The biggest factor: Rejecting what Reddicks calls the “Dead Poets Society” approach of many schools who rely on inspiring lectures by passionate teachers like those portrayed in the Oscar-winning movie. 

“You see in movies all the time, the teacher who gives the 45 minute amazing speech that really inspires the students,” Reddicks said. “Then, when the bell rings, as the kids are running out, teachers are like, ‘Make sure to get your homework done on chapter four.’ That model is like a poison pill for urban education.”

He added: “I’ve done school tours, where the principal says ‘This is our best teacher’ and you see them talking for 30 minutes. And it’s really cool what they’re showing and demonstrating. But there’s no student work happening. There’s no student interaction happening.”

Paramount instead wants teachers to spend little class time on lectures, often just the first 15 minutes. Students then work independently as teachers step in to help students one on one or in small groups.

“It makes our classroom look pretty boring,” Reddicks joked.

But having students work in class means little to no homework, which is an intentional strategy so that students with tough family or living situations still do well.

“They’re getting all the work done during the school day,” Reddicks said, when teachers can immediately correct errors. “So if they go home at night, and they don’t have any parental support, they can still come back tomorrow and be just fine.”

The schools closely track how well students master skills they are taught. 

Teachers have a training academy in which new teachers are mentored by veterans and veterans are helped with either advanced teaching or administrative skills. 

And Paramount bought laptops for third graders and up even before the pandemic, both to improve learning but also so students could be familiar with them and score better on state tests.

It’s working. In 2016, Paramount Brookside was lauded as one of the top 10 schools in the city at raising scores of poor students closer to affluent ones using the Education Quality Index, an effort of multiple non-profit organizations looking at national achievement gaps.

Last year, the Indianapolis Public Schools highlighted Paramount as a city leader in closing learning gaps between Black and white students. Proficiency rates at all three brick and mortar Paramount schools — students proficient in both math and English — are several times higher than Indianapolis Public Schools for Black, Hispanic and economically challenged students.

In the most recent state test results, released in July, between 34 and 57 percent of Black students were proficient in both English and Math at the three in-person Paramount schools, compared to just 5.4 percent in Indianapolis Public Schools.

For students receiving free or reduced lunch, 38 to 58 percent were proficient in both at the three Paramount schools, compared to just eight percent in the district.

Those scores, as well as a growing reputation, have won over Joe Bowling, executive director of the Englewood Development Corporation, which serves the neighborhood where Paramount opened one of its new schools. Along with helping to that was a neighborhood eyesore, he said the school has become an asset to the community

“The Paramount schools draw lower income households and yet the test results and the achievement seems to be there,” he said.

The scores for Black students also drew parent LaToya Tahirou after she grew frustrated with a district school.

“Some kids aren’t getting the same opportunities as other kids as far as quality of educators, quality of curriculum, quality of just the environment at the school as a whole,” she said. “I think Paramount stands above a lot of schools and their city as far as it pertains to educating low income black and brown students.”

That has led to some calls for the Indianapolis Public Schools to share more tax money with schools like Paramount so they can expand and help more students with challenges. Brandon Brown, CEO of Mind Trust, a philanthropy that supports education issues in the city, wants more money for charter schools overall so that students of color who use them heavily can have better opportunities.

Even without extra funding, Paramount still creates an unusual atmosphere for students, with all its “bells and whistles.”. Schools have their own coffee shops that deliver free drinks to teachers in their classrooms. Paramount Brookside has its own planetarium that students in the other schools can visit. The hallways display prints of art by Vincent Van Gogh, Rembrandt and Renoir, but also artists of color like Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera and Jean-Michel Basquiat. All have QR codes next to them so students can easily link to more information about the artist and piece. 

“There’s some real intentionality around our diversity,” Reddicks said. “I’m a huge impressionism person so I made this space just so I can be happy. But for the kids, it’s more about the diversity of artists and the types of art.”

The floors are all carpeted to reduce noise and distractions.

And both Paramount Brookside and Paramount Cottage Home have miniature barns and gardens, where a full time farm manager tends the plants and goats and chickens to help students learn. The goats milk is then processed into cheese in a separate room at the school and sold at farmers markets and some local grocery stores.

The cheese is a passion and hobby of Reddicks, a self-described “cheese nerd,” who learned to make specialty cheeses after finding few he liked in Indianapolis markets. He soon realized that a commercial kitchen in the school would let him sell cheeses along with sparking interest of students.

“It became a really cool balance against the hard work in the classroom,” he said. “That’s what I now call scaffolding excitement. We’ve got to scaffold in exciting stuff in all of our different areas outside of the classroom to make sure that for teachers and for students, for parents, they want to keep coming back, even though it’s such hard work.”

But Paramount schools are not farm schools, Reddicks stresses. Teachers create a lesson each quarter that uses the farm to teach other skills, but the school is not a project-based school or one where parents should expect students to have a lot of farm time. The exception is the group of about 20 students at each of the two schools who are hired to work the farm as summer jobs.

“We have to stay really focused academically,” he said. “The farm becomes a great outlet. And it’s exciting. And there’s great things going on up there. And you’re out there every day at recess experiencing it, but it’s not part of the everyday curriculum.”

Inside classrooms, portions of Paramount’s focused academic mission stand out. Color-coded charts on the walls show how each student is faring over the school year in reading and math skills — blue for above grade level, green for at it, yellow for approaching

“Generally, what we see is many of these students in red and move up a yellow, green and blue by the end of the year,” said Kyle Beauchamp, Paramount’s chief academic officer.

The schools also carefully watch what they call the “Fast Five,” five skills a teacher focuses on that week.

If students lag, the school urges them to attend two-hour afterschool tutoring sessions five days a week.

The chain has long term goals itself. Reddicks hopes to have 10 Paramount schools by 2030 and is well underway toward that goal. Along with the three schools in Indianapolis, Paramount has taken over closed schools in both South Bend and Lafayette and is fixing them to open in the fall. 

The schools received a surprise $3 million gift in 2022 from author and philanthropist MacKenzie Scott of the Amazon fortune that will help pay for the expansion.

Paramount is also close to naming a site in northern Indianapolis for the new school it is creating with the Girl Scouts. Girls IN STEM Academy will mix portions of the Girl Scouts’ STEM programs with Paramount’s academic model, though students won’t be scouts.

That school will also continue Paramount’s connection with Purdue Polytechnic High School, another star school chain created by Purdue University with two locations in Indianapolis and a third in South Bend. Reddicks says he has no interest in trying to create Paramount high schools, but Paramount Englewood, a middle school, shares a building with one of the Purdue Polytechnic High Schools so students can easily shift to that school once they finish middle school.

Purdue Polytechnic is also helping Paramount and the Girl Scouts with IN STEM.

“We see their older students serving as role models, mentors, with our K-8 girls,” Shockey said. “It’s not going to be a must-do feeder model, but obviously Purdue hopes that by creating this network with the K-8 girls that by the time they’re ready to choose a high school, they’ll strongly consider Purdue Polytechnic, and maybe before they wouldn’t have even known about it.”

Reddicks said he hopes the new schools will convince others that Paramount’s success is not a fluke and that expansion elsewhere is worthwhile.

“I think we can take that model and put it anywhere and be successful,” he said.

That’s why the founders of , a public high school on Indianapolis’s east side, decided to make this support an integral part of their school. Thrival offers students ready access to therapists, grief counseling, yoga and more. But school leaders knew that to maximize the impact, they would have to extend these services not only beyond the school day, but beyond serving students.

Thrival, which opened in fall 2020, now offers yoga classes and various types of counseling to families — and to anyone living nearby.

“A lot of people in this area don’t have fair or equal access to mental health care,” said Jessica Gordon, the school’s director of social and emotional learning. “We saw a problem and wanted to give a solution.” 

Thrival tries to “normalize mental health” by having “wellness Wednesdays” an entire day for students to take part in “self-discovery, self-love exercises,” said Gordon. While those days don’t include any academic work, students begin with a 30-minute mindful session where they do exercises that help them understand how to regulate their thoughts and emotions. Then, they gather in groups to learn about a wide range of topics including financial literacy, conflict resolution, robotics and college applications, she added. 

Thrival is an independently run school that uses city funds and is located within a city-owned building. It is an innovation school, meaning its leaders have more freedom to set the curricula and agenda for students’ days than a typical public school does. Attendance is free for Indianapolis residents. The school started with ninth grade and has been adding a grade each year; in spring 2024, it will graduate its first class of seniors. Right now, the school has about 100 students, with class sizes typically limited to about 15, said Principal Diamond Hunter. 

While Thrival was started with student mental health in mind, the idea to branch out to the community this year came from a brainstorming session, said Courtney Senousy, the school’s executive director. “When we put this together, we said, in a perfect world, what would we do based on the needs of kiddos?”

Because students spend only a fraction of their day in school, Gordon said, staff knew that “if we could target the entire family unit and not just the child, it was going to help everyone in the long run.” 

Funding for this effort comes from a $500,000 grant from the Central Indiana Community Foundation and the state Family and Social Services Administration’s Division of Mental Health and Addiction. The money will cover the program until the end of the 2024 school year, said Senousy. 

Sherrie Raven, the director of social-emotional learning implementation for the Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL), said she has not heard of any other schools that offer counseling to parents and community members.

She praised Thrival’s tiered approach to offering wraparound services, from regular SEL lessons to counseling, depending on students’ needs. Thrival has a “pretty innovative and creative model,” she added. 

“I’ve never seen anything like this” program in other schools, Senousy said. 

So far, it has been much easier to get students to sign up for counseling than to entice parents or neighbors, Gordon said. She estimated that about half of Thrival’s students have had some type of therapy outside of school. “Parents are quick to get their children signed up, but not as quick for themselves,” she said. 

Inside the school, parents or teachers can request a counseling session for students, and students can ask for one themselves. Most referrals have come from teachers who see a child disengaged or crying, Gordon said. The official referral process includes notifying parents. Gordon and one other therapist work in the school every day, providing weekly sessions that generally last 30 to 50 minutes.

“This generation normalizes mental health,” she said, adding that it is not difficult to get students to address their problems. “I’ve had students come in and say, ‘I have anxiety.’ They don’t have shame about having thoughts of wanting to hurt themselves.” 

“In the beginning, it was kind of taboo,” Hunter said, but the pandemic made many people more comfortable talking about mental health.

Gordon said the school also runs online and in-person individual and family therapy counseling, yoga and grief support sessions for parents and community members. People who participate virtually can leave their camera off if they desire. “Our hope is they eventually come in person,” she said, “but you can’t force this on anybody.”

In one case, a student suggested her mother could use therapy, and she signed up, Gordon said. In another example, a community member attended grief counseling and then brought along two other residents who had experienced similar circumstances.

“It’s a slow-moving process,” Gordon added. 

For the school’s teachers, said Gordon, early statistics indicate they are feeling less depression and anxiety. Faculty report a 25% increase in being able to teach effectively, she said. 

Early results from students are also positive. Students report a 69% decrease in suicidal thoughts, a 30% reduction in anger and a 40% increase in self-esteem. Gordon said she will continue gathering statistics every 30 days.

Raven said it typically takes three to five years for school reforms to show lasting results. But if Thrival is successful, she added, administrators should begin to see an increase in positive behaviors from students and a decrease in antisocial actions. Ultimately, the work should result in an increase in academic achievement, she said.

While this model might be too expensive to replicate exactly in other schools, she added, shows that every dollar spent on social-emotional learning for students returns $11 to schools. This means it could be worthwhile for other schools to incorporate some version of Thrival’s program, she added. 

“We didn’t have these services” growing up, said Senousy. “There were things that were never addressed. That’s not normal. If we normalize the conversation about mental health, then we’re setting these students up for success the rest of their lives.” 

Imagine a high school class where students use 3D modeling software to create blueprints, gather around a mixing board to produce a song or turn their custom artwork into streetwear. These experiences are far from what we see in many traditional high school classes. 

Innovative educators are using to make their classes more engaging and relevant. More than an academic buzzword, PBL involves students in their learning by embracing real-world issues with hands-on solutions. It also gives them a taste of life beyond classroom walls, especially when a school works with community partners in business, academia or the nonprofit sector. 

Educators at XQ high schools engage students in meaningful PBL year-round. They’re among schools nationwide where educators enrich and strengthen their approaches to PBL by embracing , one of the six research-based for successful high schools. Learning becomes more when students take what they’re studying at school into the real world, seeing how academic concepts apply to places and people they know. 

Here are 10 examples of projects to inspire educators and community groups for the upcoming school year. 

1. Nurture Entrepreneurs

in Oakland, California offers students the opportunity to do long-term internships, particularly during their junior and senior years. Students can spend a month working with tech companies, local businesses, the courts and nonprofits in the Bay Area. When the pandemic posed challenges in arranging internships, Dean of Students Christian Martinez organized a two-hour class on Mondays and Tuesdays for seniors to gain financial literacy. He focused the class on the stock market, and encouraged students to develop brands and messages that resonated with their identities, cultures and histories. He ensured the course aligned with the state’s content standards, emphasizing research and evidence-based learning. Martinez said he came up with his idea for the class after seeing how the seniors didn’t seem excited about school when they came back in person during the pandemic. 

His students learned graphic design with software programs. They also had to pitch their ideas to community members, incorporate feedback and articulate the story behind their brand through presentations of learning. 

Martinez said he leveraged a grant from Nike to give each of his 16 students $500-$1,000 to have their hoodies, T-shirts and tote bags printed nearby. They then sold the clothes at Latitude’s big celebration of learning in the spring of 2022. Their brand names included “Cruzando Fronteras” (crossing borders), “Truth and Lies,” and “Humble Beginnings.” 

By the end of the spring semester, Martinez said, “I saw the spark that I needed to see from them for them to end the year in a place where they feel successful — regardless of whether they go to college or work.” 

2. Make Music

The Memphis Artists United Project served as a powerful platform for collaboration in the fall of 2022 between eight talented musicians from Memphis, Tennessee and the students of music production class, led by teacher Ty Boyland. Together, they embarked on a musical journey to create “,” a song addressing gun violence with a bilingual verse by a talented 12th grader, shedding light on the impact of guns within the Latino community. The song got attention from local media and at youth conferences, leading to conversations about how young people experience violence and what solutions they can propose. Also at Crosstown High: science teacher Nikki Wallacemakes some powerful community partnerships by working with local researchers.

Want more ideas for rethinking your high school? The XQ Xtra is a newsletter for educators that comes out twice a month. .

3. Start a Small Farm

At in Endicott, NY, students designed a greenhouse in their math class, building scale models. The winning model is now flourishing in a garden with multiple raised beds, small fruit trees, native berry bushes, a fence and an underground water reservoir that redirects runoff from nearby tennis courts. Principal Annette Varcoe said the students collaborate with a local farmer who encourages their understanding of agriculture, farming and the marketplace. 

In July of 2023, students added a trellis arch for climbing beans. They also harvested zucchini, cucumbers and rhubarb. Some cooked rhubarb pies in their café. Five 12th graders received internships and mentoring from Kathy, Dave and Eric’s Flavored Coffee Company. Students conducted surveys to determine which baked items to make and sell in the café. They are now working on an online ordering system and backend software to track sales and inventory for the 2023-24 school year.

4. Collaborate with Artists

Members of ’s class of 2022 responded to a devastating storm that hit the Cedar Rapids region in August 2020 and destroyed up to 70 percent of the local tree canopy. Students contracted with local chainsaw artists to turn fallen wood into sculptures. They auctioned the work for Trees Forever, a public-private partnership dedicated to “re-leafing” the damaged tree canopy. Over the three-month project, students had to engage and organize artists for the carving effort, obtain permits from the city government, generate publicity through the local media, and execute the sculpture auction. By the end, their “Splinters” project raised $25,000, nearly four times the students’ original goal of $6,000. A majority of the funds went to , with the rest paying the local artists for their time and skill. Student-led projects with community partners are the defining feature of Iowa BIG’s design.

5. Let Students Choose Science Projects

Student voice plays a significant role in projects at in Tennessee. For one project, students selected genetic diseases and conditions to study, then interviewed researchers, teachers, health professionals and those affected by these conditions. They created infographics to share their research, which were printed and displayed in the science wing to inform staff and students about genetic conditions.

6. Build a Community Garden

In partnership with the Houston Parks and Recreation Department, in Houston, Texas created community gardens in the adjacent 900-acre Herman Brown Park and later on the high school’s campus. The gardens now house more than 100 fruit trees throughout the school grounds on more than two and a half acres, providing many spaces for students to learn about the natural environment and contribute to the community. The school’s Career and Technical Education program has an educator in charge of coordinating community partnerships in agriculture, food and natural resources.

7. Build a Hydroponic System

At in Indiana, students built a hydroponic system through a science project. They conducted extensive research as they designed and constructed a method for growing produce sustainably and cost-effectively. The students then identified how to use those vegetables to address real-world community needs, such as providing healthy lunches to community members in food deserts. Students at this network of high schools work on projects with community partners throughout the year.

8. Make a Micro Museum

At in Sanford, Florida, students constructed a series of mobile micro museums to take around their community, educating residents, tourists and younger students about the history of the city of Sanford and Seminole County. Students met with historians and exhibit curators from the Sanford Museum to learn how to conduct primary research, preserve artifacts and build interactive designs. The year-long project started with design thinking for students to find out what elements of their community residents wanted to learn more about. Then, they built their traveling exhibits on topics such as natural history, agriculture, sports and media, and industry and technology. 

“In an age where history is more controlled than ever, it was amazing to see the students really become energized knowing their local history and how it connected with their own studies,” said Sanford Museum Curator Brigitte Stephenson. “It showed not only the power museums have, but also how important it is to have various ages give their input on how history is presented.” Currently showcased at the Sanford Museum in commemoration of its 65th anniversary, these micro museums will travel to elementary and middle schools, downtown businesses, Seminole State College and the Seminole County Administration Center.

9. �鶹Ӱ�� Local History with Artists

The partnered with , a local arts nonprofit for young people, allowing 10th graders to take a nine-week course led by Diatribe artists, focusing on the history of housing inequality in Grand Rapids. They learned about red-lining — the practice of excluding certain groups, such as Black people, from particular neighborhoods — and its long-term negative impacts. Students toured various neighborhoods, explored the city’s gorgeous, dynamic and learned how discriminatory housing practices have shaped their city’s look and feel. 

But, typical of the school’s approach, the course was more than just lessons and field trips. Students discussed what they learned and grappled with their reactions by creating poetry, story-telling and spoken word pieces. Teachers wanted students to understand how historical events like the Civil Rights Movement were experienced nationally and within the Grand Rapids community.The partnership with The Diatribe fit closely with GRPMS courses, which aimed to blend history with social justice and English language arts in a way that makes the past feel relevant to students’ lives. 

10. Make Green Alleyways Possible

Students at in Santa Ana, California, partnered with the local architectural firm to think about a new green alleyway project for the city, working alongside professional architects to model and learn the ins and outs of drafting tools. Círculos became so adept with project-based learning that its school board and the approved four PBL courses that will count towards California’s “A-G” subject requirement credit. The four courses are now available as an elective to all high schools across the Santa Ana Unified School District, the sixth largest district in California — showing how community partnerships and projects in one place can inspire more schools to try them.

Share examples of how your high school uses project-based learning with community partnerships with #rethinkhighschool on social.

Community partnerships are just one way to rethink high school. For more, check out The XQ Xtra, a newsletter for educators that comes out twice a month. .

Disclosure: is a financial supporter of The 74.

The clippers start to buzz as Mcatee looks out at the dozen other students in the room.

“What’s the biggest peer pressure you think y’all facing right now?” Mcatee asks.

The students, all Black or Hispanic males, gather each Wednesday morning with Mcatee, local activist Antonio Patton and sometimes other barbers or guest speakers for the school’s new “Barbershop Talks” program — an anti-violence, mentoring and counseling effort building on the trusted relationship between haircutters in the Black community and their male and female clients. 

Frank discussions that can be spontaneous as clients sit in the barber’s chair have grown increasingly formalized as haircutters also , , and

Patton and Mcatee have been at the school weekly since October at the request of Principal Stan Law. Mcatee and visiting barbers cut hair while the students, two of whom report having been shot previously, talk about challenges they face. Mcatee and Patton offer insights in return about how to handle stresses and to de-escalate tensions before they turn violent. 

Mcatee’s question about peer pressure on this day in April draws a flood of answers: Drugs, girls, people picking fights on social media, and one response that highlights the stakes at play clearly:

“I just feel like the biggest peer pressure for me is just like making the right decisions, like doing the right thing,” said Xavieon Wilson, 15. “The other day I had a choice. I could have went with a group of friends and did something not so good or I could have went to a workout. I went to a workout and one of my friends ended up being shot.”

“Wow,” Patton said, asking if the person died. (He survived)

“That’s a smart decision,” added Mcatee, who was shot as a bystander in his teens and wants to help others avoid that kind of danger. “You see the outcome of it, right? That’s just being smart.”

The program at the school grew out of community-wide barbershop talk sessions Patton and his non-profit group started scheduling in shops across Indianapolis in 2022 in an attempt to reduce violence, domestic abuse and other social problems.

Similar efforts are happening in barbershops , , and  

As Patton’s effort’s drew attention, Principal Law invited Patton to adapt the talks to his school, which is 84 percent Black or Hispanic and where two thirds of students are considered economically disadvantaged.

The school is also in the Haughville neighborhood of Indianapolis, long regarded as one of the most dangerous in a city setting a new record for homicides in 2020, then before easing last year.

“There is a grave need for black male scholars to engage with older, caring, and relevant black males who have a story of perseverance and triumph over challenges that the scholars can relate their current experiences that affect their lives,” said Law.

“A barbershop motif provided the platform to help our young men make connections with real stories with real experiences with real solutions,” he added.

Guests have included former Indiana Pacers basketball player George Hill, who grew up in Indianapolis, and people from the school’s neighborhood who were in trouble as teens but found successful jobs and lives.

The peer pressure question on this day continued to draw responses. Dae’den Thompson, 16, said he feels pressure when two friends have a conflict and he has to pick a side.

“Do you know how many beefs I’ve managed?” asks Mcatee, who has worked at multiple barber shops in the city. “The best thing to do is stay out of it. You say ‘I got love for you’ and ‘I got love for you.’ The best thing you can do is try to bridge it if you can.”

He tells students that sometimes having friends talk, without others around that they have to show off for, can defuse a problem.

“Once they really get there and talk, man, a lot of that stuff don’t be about nothing,” he said. “They really don’t want to beef.”

 “They do it when they get around a friend,” a student said.

“That’s it,” said Mcatee. “That’s the only reason that they do it.”

For the next hour, the conversation bounces from cyberbullying to materialism, absentee fathers, letting slights go and not seeking conflicts over money or property damage that could lead to violence. At other points they joke about girls, about embarrassing moments or about going to prom as a group.

Thompson and other students say they appreciate the program for a chance to talk with students and adults who understand their lives.

“I come here and can speak my mind,” he said.

Law says the talks seem to be having an impact. He did not have data, but said behavior problems with participants has fallen and attendance has improved. That’s in keeping with results from a for a few months after participating in barbershop discussions. Those results didn’t last, however, and the program at George Washington is too new to know the long-term effect.

The biggest impact Patton hopes for, though, won’t be measurable. It’s about preventing tragedy.

“I’m tired of meeting moms screaming for their babies that’s never coming home,” Patton tells the students. “I do not want to see one of you young men on the news other than being highlighted for something amazing.”

Under the state’s then-new charter school law, Christel DeHaan opened Christel House Academy in 2002. The school began in the city’s southside with grades K-4. In the last 10 years, has grown into a network that serves the widest age range of students in the state of Indiana. This includes a day care program, two K-8 schools, a high school (a second, temporary high school program Christel is running in a district building will end after the spring semester) and an adult education program. There are also outposts in Jamaica, India, Mexico and South Africa.

Because the program follows its graduates for five years past high school, offering counseling, scholarships and other assistance, a student could be with Christel from infancy to age 23. But its reach goes far beyond that: The school’s dropout recovery program, set up for those past the age of 18, had a 74-year-old graduate last year. 

Christel House’s four Indianapolis schools serve about 2,000 students, mostly from low-income and marginalized communities. Students apply through the city’s and are chosen by lottery. The focus is on English competency, but there’s also Spanish instruction, beginning in kindergarten. Christel House has a longer academic year than district schools and provides every student with school supplies, uniforms, meals and health care.

In addition to rigorous courses, there is a wide array of extracurriculars, exposing Christel House’s students to experiences typically offered to their more privileged peers. The school has guitar and violin classes and a piano lab; adjunct faculty from nearby Butler University teach music classes. There are overnight hiking and camping trips that promote team-building and self-confidence while teaching survival skills.

“We try hard to expand the definition of student success,” said Sarah Weimer, CEO and executive director of Christel House Indianapolis. “We’re looking at life outcomes.” 

One way Christel House does this is by tracking students after they earn a diploma. While nearly all finish high school in four or five years, the school also boasts that by age 23, most every graduate has found , defined as a stable position with benefits. As a measure of the network’s success in breaking the cycle of poverty, its annual report also notes that more than three out of four alumni earn more money five years after graduation than the average household income of newly enrolled Christel House families. 

Daniel McClure is a Christel graduate who’s currently a sophomore at the University of Indianapolis, studying music theory. While he admits the transition from high school to college was challenging, he credits his 3.5 grade-point average to the preparation he received while at the charter network.

The habits he formed at Christel, including how to work hard and challenge himself, have helped him succeed at college, he said. 

McClure remembers learning how to respectfully question a teacher and how to craft a resume. The school even brought in professionals to conduct mock interviews with students, he said. “These are skills I use to this day. Christel has done a good job at preparing us for college and onward.”

Preparation for the next phase of life is what Christel’s adult education program is all about. DORS High School, where students over the age of 18 can earn their diplomas, has an enrollment of 800 and features a wide mix of learners, all of whom attend for free. Some are immigrants whose schooling didn’t mesh with the approach to education in the States. Others are mothers whose children attend Christel’s K-12 schools. Still others are students who need to learn English before starting their formal studies.

Because the school is one of the only adult programs in the country without an age cap, multigenerational work groups are not unusual, said teacher Samantha Griffith. 

Recently, she said, a 40-year-old mother befriended a misbehaving 18-year-old, helping to soothe the student. “Relationships are key, and our school prioritizes that,” Griffith said. 

“They all work together, sometimes in their home language, sometimes in English,” said teacher Erika Watkins. She’s seen the program grow from five students working online to a hybrid offering live classes during three time blocks during the day, mixed with self-paced online courses. While it typically takes two years for students to earn the needed 40 credits if they begin without having completed any high school courses, the teachers have learned to be flexible. Many students drop out if they’re not ready to resume learning, or if a job change or family situation upends their schedule, Watkins said. Graduates often stop school once or twice before resuming the program and earning their diploma.

Teaching English learners is also a key feature of Christel’s two K-8 schools. While Christel has always targeted students in low-income families and those in marginalized communities, Weimer said the changing makeup of the student body remains a challenge. When the CEO started in 2011, 16% of the charter’s students were English learners, she said. Now, that proportion is over 40%, and about 90% are eligible for free and reduced-price lunch. 

“We’re working with families from backgrounds without education, even in their native language,” she said. While Christel does have philanthropic donors, 95% of the schools’ budget comes from public funds, she added. 

The state’s most recent show a dramatic difference between Christel’s two K-8 schools, Academy West and Academy South. While 31% of students from grade 3 to 8 at Academy South are proficient in English, only 16.6% of kids at Academy West reached that level. At the high school, 55% of students passed the state’s latest English Language Arts iStep Grade 10 test, while just 14% of the same students passed the math portion of the test.

Weimer said the two K-8 schools run the same program, but West has fewer general education teachers certified to teach English learners. Christel is shifting resources to “ensure more equity” between the schools, she said. The network is also adding a director of K-8 to offer more support to students at West. 

Teachers are offered additional compensation if they become certified to teach English learners, and Christel pays for the required courses. 

“Our goal is to have every classroom teacher dually certified to teach our English language learners, since most of our classrooms are composed of a majority of ELLs,” Weimar said. 

The network has also started its own teacher training program, offering certification to anyone who has completed a bachelor’s degree. 

The program, , provides candidates with a full year’s paid residency with a quality mentor teacher, Weimer said. The program deliberately gives candidates more robust co-teaching opportunities than a student teaching stint in the hopes this will help new teachers find success quickly. 

Beyond academics, Christel offers a broad range of opportunities for its K-12 students. These run from music instruction to camping programs that culminate in a week-long trip to Cumberland Falls in Kentucky. 

Camptown, a nonprofit organization that runs outdoor educational programs, has been a partner with Christel for 15 years. Executive Director Brent Freeman said fourth graders begin with a simple overnight trip; the skills taught increase with difficulty each year. By eighth grade, students have hiked through a cave at night and learned how to purify water and navigate their own path through the woods, Freeman said.

Working through difficulties as a team is a great experience for students and brings them closer to each other and school staff, he added. Some trails feature 30 creek crossings, and the students carry a 40-pound backpack. 

McClure lights up as he recounts camping trips he took years ago. Noting that he was a troublemaker in seventh grade, he said the outings helped the students feel more like family. He realized there is “so much more to classmates than being in math and trying to solve a math problem.” The program’s effects are still felt today, he added, as his classmates stay in touch with each other. 

“It builds self awareness and confidence,” Freeman said. “Students know, ‘I have done a hard thing. I was afraid and I did it.’ There’s such power in leaning into fears and overcoming them.”

A new Indiana law that critics say will in schools under the guise of blocking conversations around “human sexuality” now faces a legal challenge.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Indiana filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana Friday on behalf of a public school teacher in Indianapolis who says the law infringes her constitutional rights.

Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb last month signed into law , which requires Indiana schools to notify parents and prohibits human sexuality instruction to the youngest Hoosier students.

Kayla Smiley, an elementary school teacher in the Indianapolis Public School system, claims in the court challenge that the law poses First Amendment violations for teachers by taking away her “ability to speak as a citizen on matters of public interest and to speak away from work on matters unrelated to her employment and addressed to a public audience.”

Story continue below.

The complaint additionally argues that the law is overly broad, given that neither “instruction” nor “human sexuality” is defined. 

Smiley emphasized that “instruction” and interactions with students happen both inside and outside the classroom — making it hard to know when a line has been crossed.

“The key terms of ‘instruction’ and ‘human sexuality’ are impossibly vague and lack any ascertainable standards for determining whether or not the law has been violated,” the lawsuit reads.

Teacher says law is ‘impossibly vague’

Smiley said in the lawsuit that she is unable to determine how to conform her behavior to the law so she does not risk losing her license. 

According to the complaint, the teacher has a classroom library in her classroom that contains “age-appropriate books across a diverse spectrum of subjects and concerns, including LGBTQ+ issues, such as biographies of Harvey Milk, and Elton John.” She also has in her student classroom library the book “And Tango Make Three,” which is based on the true story of two male penguins who raise a chick together.

The lawsuit alleges that teachers have “no idea” about whether or not such books qualify as “instruction . . . on human sexuality” or whether or not they can discuss any topics regarding same-sex relationships.

Smiley also carries a water bottle in class, in hallways, and before and after school, which has on it stickers and pins supporting LGBTQ+ rights, including one that reads “Trans rights are human rights.” The bottle displays rainbow flags that are widely recognized as the symbol of LGBTQ+ pride, too. 

“She is unsure if she is still allowed to engage in this display outside of her class or what to do if the display prompts a discussion in her class,” the lawsuit said about the water bottle.

Smiley is seeking an injunction to prevent the law from taking effect July 1.

“HEA 1608 is written so broadly that it would be next to impossible for teachers to determine what they can and cannot say to students,” said Ken Falk, ACLU of Indiana legal director, in a written statement on Friday. “In addition, teachers have a First Amendment right to express themselves as private citizens outside of the classroom, including in the school’s hallways, playground, or before and after school, but the vagueness of this law would certainly have a chilling effect on those rights.” 

How the controversial law came to be

The law, authored by Rep. Michelle Davis, R-Whiteland, is reminiscent of Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law that has been described by some as one of the most “hateful” pieces of legislation in the country.

the measure intends to “empower Hoosier parents by reinforcing that they’re in the driver’s seat when it comes to introducing sensitive topics to their children.” She said previously that the bill was a response to “numerous concerns of parents in her district.

Supporters further say parents have the “right” and “responsibility” to control what their children learn — and are called — when at school.

have argued that it’s part of a nationwide wave of legislation “singling out LGBTQ+ people and their families.” More specifically, they say that the new law could put transgender children at risk of harm if they’re outed to unsupportive or abusive parents.

“This session, legislators were determined to target LGBTQ community members and to censor conversation about the LGBTQ community in schools, HEA 1608 was no exception,” said Katie Blair, ACLU of Indiana advocacy director. “This bill, like others across the country, was modeled after Florida’s infamous ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law. LGBTQ students exist at all ages and in all grade levels and their stories belong in Indiana schools.”

is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Indiana Capital Chronicle maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Niki Kelly for questions: info@indianacapitalchronicle.com. Follow Indiana Capital Chronicle on and .

Featured on our online panel: Dr. Keeanna Warren, associate executive director, PPHS Network; Dr. Gary Bertoline, senior vice president, Purdue University; former Indiana state Rep. Mary Ann Sullivan; The 74 Senior Reporter Jo Napolitano; and Purdue Polytechnic junior Raina Maiga. PPI’s Taylor Maag moderates. 

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Related coverage: 

• Rethinking High School: Upending Traditional Subject Structure at Purdue Polytechnic High School
• In This School District’s ‘Test Kitchen,’ Teens Go Beyond the Classroom to Build Drones, Research Cancer & Try Out Careers
• Indiana Looks to Make High School Curriculum More Focused on Career Paths
• Michigan Teens, Schooled in an Old Museum Without Classrooms, Eclipse Status Quo

Featured on our online panel: Dr. Keeanna Warren, associate executive director, PPHS Network; Dr. Gary Bertoline, senior vice president, Purdue University; former Indiana state Rep. Mary Ann Sullivan; The 74 Senior Reporter Jo Napolitano; and Purdue Polytechnic junior Raina Maiga. PPI’s Taylor Maag will moderate. Please join us at 2 p.m. Eastern. 

, or tune in here at 2 p.m. to livestream the event.

Related coverage: 

• Rethinking High School: Upending Traditional Subject Structure at Purdue Polytechnic High School
• Watch: Educators & Experts Talk About How High Schools Are Innovating to Better Prepare Teens for College & Work
• Robotics-Themed NYC High School Fills Roster in Inaugural Year
• Watch: Inside Indianapolis’s Purdue Polytechnic High, an Innovative School Built Around Design Thinking That Offers a Direct Pathway to College

Morgan, who had previously worked for the Cleveland schools from 2014 to 2016, served as Executive Director of Teach For America’s St. Louis branch for three years before joining the Indianapolis district in 2020 during the pandemic.

For three years he has overseen Indianapolis’ academic recovery from the pandemic, with . 

Raised in Chicago, Morgan started his career teaching science in St. Louis public schools as a Teach for America recruit, years before leading the program there. Teach for America has drawn national attention for its model of recruiting strong students from non-teacher training programs at universities, giving them a crash course in teaching.

But reviews have been mixed in the program’s 30 years, with some educators praising the energy and insights that new recruits bring to schools that often have trouble finding good teachers. The program has churned out school leaders, including former Washington, D.C., schools chancellor Michelle Rhee, former Louisiana State Superintendent John White and Morgan’s current boss, Indianapolis Public Schools Superintendent Aleesia Johnson.

Others, including teachers unions, have said teachers are not well prepared and that many leave the profession after their two year term.

In a press conference announcing Morgan’s selection, outgoing Cleveland CEO Eric Gordon pointed out he hired Morgan for his first school district administration job in 2014. Morgan responded he was glad for the chance to come “home.”

“I can’t describe how excited I am for this opportunity,” Morgan said as Gordon pulled a baton from a gift bag and handed it to him. “I’m extremely humbled, honored. But above all, just extremely grateful.”

Morgan cautioned, however, that he does not want to force Indianapolis solutions on Cleveland and that he would launch a listening tour to hear parents, staff and students. Though he presented a “first 100 days” plan in interviews for the job, it was not immediately available. 

In two interviews, one with parents and one with students, Morgan highlighted a commitment to extracurricular activities and making sure schools in every neighborhood have the resources to offer quality education. 

Mayor Justin Bibb said Morgan’s humility and ability to listen helped win the job, along with his commitment to equity between schools and “making sure that we do everything we can to accelerate and address the learning loss that we see coming out of COVID-19.”

Bibb avoided discussing how much Morgan’s Teach for America work was part of the decision. Bibb, 36, a former member of Ohio’s Teach for America board, had also tapped another veteran, former Cleveland TFA leader Holly Trifiro, as his main education advisor. 

A press release about Morgan becoming one of two finalists for the job conspicuously did not name Teach for America, saying only that Warren had worked for an “education nonprofit in St. Louis.” 

Morgan was chosen over Rocky Torres, a Cleveland native and also a former Cleveland schools administrator, now Assistant Superintendent of Student Services with Seattle Public Schools.

Morgan will start as CEO July 1 when Gordon, who has led the district since 2011, steps down. Gordon, 53, was named Urban Educator of the Year in 2016 by the Council of the Great City Schools, the nation’s association of large urban districts.

Until Bibb took over as mayor last January, Gordon had served as CEO only under former Mayor Frank Jackson. Last spring, Bibb said in an interview with The 74 that he would review whether any school official, even the highly-regarded Gordon, was the best fit for the district.

Gordon then announced last fall that he would leave after this school year, giving Bibb and the board time to pick a successor. He has not revealed plans for after his departure.

Along with his multiple leadership positions in Teach for America, Morgan has worked as a department chair and principal in Chicago Public Schools and spent two years in Cleveland overseeing some of the district’s “investment schools,” which received wraparound social services and other supports to improve.

Cleveland’s mayor has more say in the selection of the district head than other districts in the state. Though school districts in Ohio have elected school boards, Cleveland was the first to change to mayoral control in the 1990s. State law calls for the mayor to pick school board members and for new CEOs to be chosen by the board in concurrence with the mayor. 

Now, just three months later, the 11th grader’s goals for the money have shifted toward savings and financial goals — just as his school and researchers hoped.

Lee’s high school, the Rooted School in the Arlington Woods neighborhood, and another Rooted School in New Orleans partnered for the $50 Study, collaborating with university researchers to see if cash payments to students can help students build financial literacy.

That’s an important lesson at Lee’s school, where 89% of students, almost all of whom are Black, qualify for free or reduced lunch, a typical measure of financial neediness. 

Helping economically disadvantaged students grow into financially independent adults is also a core mission of the growing Rooted School model. The charter chain will expand to Las Vegas and Vancouver, Washington, next school year. 

The charter chain’s “moonshot,” as , is to close the wealth gap between Black and white Americans. The $50 cash project is a teaching tool toward that mission, said Talia Livneh, director of programs at the Rooted School Foundation.

“There’s an increased sense of agency, self and financial freedom, when students have access to money independently of whether their parents give it to them or not.” Livneh said. “We’re also seeing students are learning financial literacy, capability, socialization, that happens inherently by having access to money.”

Each Wednesday since January, the foundation has deposited $50 in debit card accounts for Lee and about 40 classmates at his school and another 40 at the New Orleans Rooted school. The study will again give those weekly payments for 40 weeks to a second group of students at each school in the fall.

Researchers will then track students’ spending and study their attitudes about money and financial security using the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s as a standardized measure.

New Orleans students are also publicizing their journey in a

Though teenagers have been included in other guaranteed income studies, Livneh and Zibei Chen, an assistant professor at the University of Tennessee who is the lead researcher for the study, say they believe this is the first to be based at a school and focused just on teens. The Center for Guaranteed Income Research at the University of Pennsylvania is also part of the study.

Chen said centering the study on a school will also allow her to see if the money affects academic performance, either by eliminating family hardships that distract from learning or by shifting students’ planning for the future. 

A 2020 pilot at the New Orleans school, with just 10 students receiving the payments, offered hints that students could reduce family problems with unpaid bills or rent, but was too small and short — along with being in the early months of the pandemic — to draw any conclusions about academics.

“That’s something we’d like to see,” Chen said. “But we’re going to wait to see what the data tells us.”

Students at the Indianapolis school said they jumped at the chance to participate, once the school assured them it wasn’t a scam and they wouldn’t be on the hook for anything more than reporting spending and filling out surveys. 

“It’s an opportunity for us to be independent,” said Nyarian Anatman, who said the money lets students treat themselves, help family or save. She’ll spend part of her money to fly to her cousin’s 18th birthday in Florida.

“It gives us a chance at financial responsibility,” added 11th grader Javon Members, who’s also part of the study. “Not a lot of kids our age know what to do with money. So when you get that money firsthand, it’s like, okay, now I can see what I can do to save, or I can spend it.”

Some students had serious uses for the money right from the start. Several have used it for the school’s participation fees for athletic teams, while students in the pilot bought Apple stock or cryptocurrency. La’Nyah Glover, also an 11th grader, said she has used some on her younger siblings and on shoes, clothes and gas so that she doesn’t have to ask her parents for money.

Glover, who wants to become a professional photographer, also bought backdrops and memory cards for the business she is starting.

“This money helps you grow businesses,” she said. “I didn’t have to worry like I worried before…Now that I have this, I can buy the backdrops I need, I can get more jobs. When I get more jobs. I get more money, and I make more than the $50 which I’m getting every week.”

Like Lee, fast food was a focus for 11th grader Dwayne Sullivan, along with video games.

“When I first got my card, I was just buying stupid stuff,” he said. “McDonald’s really has a place in my heart. But now I’m trying to save my money.”

His goal: buying a car.

Sullivan and Lee’s early splurges with the windfall were typical for students in the earlier pilot and the newly-launched expansion. Many have bought headphones or music downloads, gas to drive places on a whim or, like Lee, fast food. A report on the pilot study noted that for some students, particularly from low-income families, these purchases were meaningful, even just being able to buy a whole pizza for themselves and not just a slice.

“I could do it without (my mother) criticizing me or saying anything to me: ‘Why are you wasting your money?” Lee said. “This is my money. I could do whatever I wanted to.”

But he said weekly personal finance classes at the school – along with nudging from his mother – convinced him to start saving for film school after a few weeks.

“This tool can help me in the long run, because soon I’m going to have to pay bills,” he said. “I’m gonna have to pay rent. I don’t pay that now, but I’m going to. This is helping me realize that saving is a lot more important and money can do a lot more than I thought it could.”

Brewer, who leads Yorktown High School an hour northeast of Indianapolis, is grappling with the trouble many young people have with basic job rules: The need to be on time, taking initiative and speaking with customers. And without a standard class for schools to teach these skills there’s no way to prove to employers that students have learned them.

“If you’re going to be workforce ready in a plethora of possible industries, what are the things that you need in order to be a successful employee?” said Brewer, whose school of 800 students will join a growing number of schools and community organizations in the Indianapolis area using a new set of career skills “badges” that standardize what young people need to know. “Here’s a way that we can solidify some additional training that is going to be marketable.” 

Brewer has made the badges the core of a pilot graduation track for students who want to work right out of high school, one of . Students will complete all six badges as part of that track.

Like a digital version of Boy Scout merit badges, the — Mindsets, Self-Management, Learning Strategies, Social Skills, Workplace Skills and Launch a Career — verify what students have learned and serve as soft skills credentials in the local job market.

Within those categories, students are taught about professionalism, time management and attention to detail. Since launching in 2018, more than 3,400 young people, mostly high school juniors and seniors in the Indianapolis area, have earned at least one badge.

“When a young person completes the badges…when they apply to a job…it’s a way for them (businesses)  to have confidence,” said Austin Jenness, a spokesman for EmployIndy, which helped develop the badges. “What are their communication skills? What are their interpersonal communication skills? Are they ready for this, even entry level position?”

Indianapolis isn’t alone in trying to create so-called “soft skills credentials” that can take hold like technical and industry credentials have over the years. Community colleges in California have used a soft skills curriculum and badges for a decade. There is also a national movement away from using high school or college diplomas as the main credential in hiring toward .

But soft skills credentials are rare for high school students. And as MDRC, a national nonprofit organization that researches economic policy, noted last fall, .

“If these credentials become widespread enough, possessing them could provide job candidates with a distinct advantage,” an MDRC commentary said.

Among the biggest challenges is making sure they come from reliable organizations that have status, something Indianapolis has in hand.

Victory College Prep, a K-12 school of about 900 students in Indianapolis, requires them for all students before starting mandatory internships in 11th grade.

“Folks are familiar enough that when we talk about the students completing the badges…it does give prospective partners a degree of confidence about 17 and 18 year olds that could be quite a gamble in terms of readiness and temperament,” said Andrew Hayenga, the school’s chief development officer. 

EmployIndy created the badges and a curriculum to teach them in 2018 by combining the state’s 36 “,” skills and talents that apply across all jobs and industries. It then developed lessons to teach them over 30 hours of in-person classes that schools and community organizations could pull off the shelf and teach.

Along with schools, EmployIndy reported some summer programs run by community groups use the training as part of their sessions, with classes expanding now that they are online and the pandemic has eased.

But beyond the increase in the number of people earning badges, EmployIndy has no real data to show success. Asked to name companies that use the badges in its hiring process, EmployIndy couldn’t. And it’s not yet collecting employment data for completers, but is about to start a series of focus groups to update the lessons.

“Our world has rapidly changed in the last couple of years, so how we do work has changed,” Downey said. “We anticipate almost yearly kind of refreshes of the content, not complete deep dive changes, but just to ensure that we’re staying up to date.”

The pandemic’s devastating impact on student learning provided an opportunity for community leaders in Indianapolis and around the country to think about summer learning differently. Rather than the traditional out-of-school program focus on remediation, students need access to grade-level content in order to truly .

In 2021, The Mind Trust teamed up with United Way of Central Indiana to launch Indy Summer Learning Labs. For five weeks in summer 2021 and 2022, thousands of Indianapolis students attended rigorous, high-quality summer programming designed to ensure the pandemic did not derail their educational futures.

Sites were located both within schools and community organizations, so students and families could choose the option that worked best for them. The results were remarkable. In summer 2022, the labs served 5,000 students at 39 sites across the city. For a second year running, students . Here are some examples of the results:

• A 25-percentage-point increase in basic and proficient scores for English language arts
• A 24-point increase in basic and proficient scores for math
• A 15-point increase in overall English and math scores
• Perhaps most convincing, the Indiana Department of Education commissioned an external study that found learning lab students achieved above their pre-pandemic rates of learning and did better than their peers who did not participate in the program
• 93% of participating families rated their experience as good or great

Importantly, the summer learning labs served a demographically and socioeconomically representative sample of Indianapolis’ student population. In 2022, 79% of participating students were children of color, and 68% came from low-income backgrounds. It is clear that the learning labs served the students who most needed rigorous summer programming. And it served them well.

A key factor in the program’s success was the Lavinia Group’s rigorous , which was customized to match Indiana’s state standards for each grade level.

As a former educator, I understand the impulse to stick with remediation. When you’re working with middle schoolers whose average reading ability is at a third grade level, it’s tempting to give them third-grade material. But this well-meaning tendency actually does a great disservice to the students, who should be afforded opportunities to gain grade-level mastery by accessing grade-level content.

Students who need the most support are too often given remediation when research is clear that what they need is grade-level material matched with adult support. Two years of data in Indianapolis proves when students get rigorous instruction and the support they need, they rise to the occasion and make significant progress.

The summer learning labs were able to produce such transformative outcomes due to three design decisions that supported the use of a high-quality curriculum: the program at all sites was free or low-cost; we hired over 100 licensed teachers to deliver instruction; and the student experience balanced rigorous academics with daily enrichment, such as fields trips, art projects and outdoor recreation. Feedback from families, teachers and the students themselves was clear: Kids wanted to show up, and they learned a lot in just five weeks as a result.

Inspired in part by Indy Summer Learning Labs, New York City took a similar approach last summer, thanks to the leadership of Bloomberg Philanthropies. Summer Boost NYC served more than 17,000 students last summer, with many schools using the RISE curriculum. That proves that this type of summer learning approach is replicable in other cities and potentially a model for other out-of-school programs, such as during spring break or after school.

As for our work in Indianapolis, our vision is that the learning labs will eventually be an independent nonprofit and serve as the enduring academic acceleration engine for the city’s students. To do this, we plan to advocate in the Indiana General Assembly for recognition that continued investments in proven models like Indy Summer Learning Labs are vital for accelerating learning in the wake of the pandemic. Other states and education philanthropists would benefit from pursuing similar strategies. The nation cannot treat efforts to mitigate learning loss as one-off investments and just move on to the next shiny object. It will take a sustained effort over time to achieve the learning gains that students deserve.

Disclosure: The Mind Trust provides financial support to The 74. City Fund provides financial support to The Mind Trust and The 74.

This article has been produced in partnership between The 74 and .

Indianapolis, IN — Raina’s ninth grade schedule at looked nothing like that of a typical high school student. Unlike most teens, she never attended single-subject, 50-minute periods like math, English and social studies. No bells rang when class was over. Instead, projects and personalized learning are key at this in Indianapolis, Indiana. 

This structure allowed Raina to choose a different schedule every six weeks, in six cycles over the year. During one cycle, she participated in a mock trial that required her to research previous cases, analyze evidence and build written cases. Six weeks later, she signed up for the next level and focused on presenting cases in front of a judge and jury in collaboration with local attorneys. She also took a journalism course that involved not just writing and researching articles, but learning the ethics of the craft. And in each cycle, Raina also took some online classes, such as Spanish, Latin and math.

It sounds overwhelming — more like college than high school. But Raina, who’s part of PPHS’s Class of 2025, said the workload is very well paced. “They don’t give you a whole semester load of work to do in six weeks,” she explained.

PPHS is breaking the mold of traditional high school learning for a reason. of all U.S. high school graduates are ready for college or career, and a full 40 percent of 12^th graders were below basic in math on the most recent . The achievement gaps are especially pronounced among students from low-income families and those who are Black and brown, because students from underserved communities have been historically and systematically neglected.

Former Indiana governor Mitch Daniels saw those disturbing patterns when he became president of Purdue University in 2013. The university teamed up with business leaders, the city of Indianapolis and the state to raise the number of students from underrepresented backgrounds attending Purdue University and going into STEM careers. They designed PPHS and it was among the winners of XQ’s to rethink the U.S. high school experience. It with a nontraditional schedule emphasizing more personalized learning and engaging, real-world projects aligned to state standards and Indiana’s workforce development goals. 

“The idea that learning needs to be time-bound, or that every student learns in the same way in increments and goes from class to class is antiquated, and doesn’t really serve students well,” said Keeanna Warren, the school’s associate executive director. 

Since graduating its first class in 2021, PPHS has sent more than twice as many students to Purdue as the entire Indianapolis Public Schools (IPS) district, most of whom are students of color. The school now has three campuses (in Indianapolis and South Bend) and it reported cohort graduation rates of 83, 86, and 100 percent in 2022. By comparison, the typical graduation rate in IPS hovers around 72 percent. 

In addition to , PPHS students have personal learning time between classes to work with teachers — called coaches. This allows for differentiated instruction and targeted academic assistance. Throwing out the high school playbook may seem easier for a new charter school partnered with a top-notch university than for an existing school with an established culture. But many other U.S. high schools have hacked the traditional schedule to make learning more personalized and flexible. These include all of the charters, district lab schools like in Pennsylvania and . 

Most importantly, experts say other schools can replicate these models. 

There are Fewer Obstacles Than You Think

When switching up the traditional school day, “sometimes people think there are more barriers or requirements than there actually are,” according to Laurie Gagnon, director of the Aurora Institute’s program.

School leaders often feel constrained by the , the century-old system that’s still the organizing principle for most U.S. high schools, with learning measured by seat time. However, there’s an increasing recognition that this system doesn’t serve all students, which is why to spend the next few years developing a replacement for time-based learning. 

In the meantime, Gagnon said interdisciplinary projects that combine material from different subject classes can easily meet state requirements. At PPHS, one industry project involved having students meet with public transportation officials to develop solutions that could serve the community better, using what they learned about population density and how it changed over history due to factors like interstate construction and redlining. To meet state standards, the school also schedules students into interdisciplinary classes. One called “the candy corn catapult,” for example, combines math and physics. 

Various states and districts encourage schools to create innovative schedules. In , schools can request waivers from state mandates. New Hampshire and Oregon are among states moving to give credit based on factors other than seat time, according to the . Some districts have created innovation zones through agreements with their unions. In Boston, have flexibility around hiring, budget, bell schedule and curriculum. In New York City, the union contract allows if most teachers agree to a different schedule.

In-House Tech Expertise Helps, But Isn’t a Requirement

The traditional high school “master schedule” exists for a reason: functionality. Regardless of whether the school has 100 or 1,000 students, it can program the appropriate classes for every pupil while also ensuring courses align with student needs, the curriculum, and legal requirements.

But PPHS had no template when it did away with the master schedule in favor of more personalized learning. Staffers were scrambling in 2017 to give 150 first-year students different choices each week, in six-week cycles. The solution came from Andrew Zeller, a Purdue University graduate student in math who was on the PPHS team at the time. Zeller found Setmore, a software program typically used by hair salons and yoga studios. Signing up for an electric car project using Setmore was as easy as scheduling a trim and highlights. But he still had to program each student’s selections manually so they’d know their next week’s schedule by Friday. “I don’t think I slept on Thursday nights for two years because I was building the master schedule on Thursday night,” Zeller recalled.

Setmore worked well until the school’s staff and population doubled a year later with a new class of ninth-graders, causing everything to slow down. Thankfully, the next solution came from someone else in-house, engineering and science teacher Drew Goodin. He wasn’t a software programmer but he was able to get Google sheets to work with an automation app. He named the new system Drewber — his first name plus Uber. 

Of course, most schools don’t have someone on staff with these talents. But Goodin acknowledged there is an old school alternative: “Issuing paper tickets to classes could be a solution to this problem too,” he said, adding that changing the schedule wasn’t as important as maximizing student learning through the optimization of coaches, students and space. Schools can do all of those things within the master schedule. They can also make smart use of time, space, and technology — one of the six researchers say can lead to more equitable outcomes for all pupils. 

A Shared Vision Matters, and So Does a Collaborative Culture

At a school devoted to personalized learning, it’s important to create a culture that allows constant iteration, PPHS leaders said. In its second year, for example, PPHS tried building its own curriculum through an online tool. But that was a huge lift for the staff. Making too many changes “just about destroyed the school,” said executive director Scott Bess. Teachers grew frustrated. Some quit. Founding principal Shatoya Ward, who now serves as chief of school operations, recalled the staff demanding an intervention. But instead of a mutiny, they worked together. She recalled them asking, “What are we going to do about this?”

Gagnon, of Aurora, said that it’s critical to carve out space for teachers to learn, have opportunities for professional development, and be a part of the design process. PPHS leaders said they’ve absorbed this lesson. They began offering fewer courses to make the schedule more manageable. The school also switched from six-week to eight-week cycles in the fall of 2022, and it’s become less enamored with online learning. But constant iteration relies on a shared vision, Bess said.

“I’d say the biggest thing is, remember your why,” he explained. “In our case, we want to get more underrepresented minority students and low-income students able to access a place like Purdue.” 

Listen to Feedback from Your School Community

PPHS’s vision for more personalized, project-based learning wasn’t just a challenge for its faculty. It also presented a hurdle for students and parents used to traditional grading systems and test prep. Each project is tied to specific , such as problem-solving, analyzing sources and using a growth mindset, that colleges and employers identified as lacking among too many high school graduates. That’s why Warren said communication was critical. 

“We had open forums and town halls to receive feedback from parents and share the ‘why’ and ‘how,’” she said. “Some parents remained skeptical through graduation, and that feedback was helpful for our team’s growth.” Over time, Warren said PPHS saw more teachers, parents and students buy in once they realized the school was working. 

Victor, who graduated from PPHS in 2022 and now attends Purdue University—where he’s studying integrated business and engineering—said he enjoyed his high school’s variety and flexibility. At other schools, he said, “you’re put in a box,” with a routine that becomes redundant and tiring. Like many PPHS students, Victor took advantage of a summer program allowing him to attend Purdue University. He also took dual credit courses at another local college, giving him a leg up as a college freshman. 

Since the onset of COVID-19, there’s been more interest in flexible approaches to learning. “I think the pandemic has opened up some questions about where does learning happen, and how do we document it,” Gagnon said. And PPHS could provide schools across the country with valuable answers to those questions.

Do you want to learn more about how to rethink high school? The XQ Xtra is a newsletter for educators that comes out twice a month. Sign up .

Disclosure:  is a financial supporter of The 74.

Indianapolis Public School officials think so — and are investigating ways to offer teachers a three-hour or even a full-day block of flex time that can be used to plan lessons, meet with colleagues or study student data. 

The move is part of the district’s plan to “make teaching a more attractive profession long term,” said Alex Moseman, Indianapolis’ former director of talent acquisition, who initiated the effort. “The labor market is shifting, and we have an opportunity to create a more sustainable work-life balance for teachers.”

There is little doubt teachers feel stressed and dissatisfied. A recent showed stress was the top reason public school teachers left the profession, even before COVID-19. In a , job satisfaction sank to an all-time low this year, with only 12% of 1,300 educators polled saying they were “very satisfied” with their jobs. That’s down from 62% about 15 years earlier. A from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Learning Technology shows the same trend — more than three-quarters of teachers feel negatively about their profession. 

“Being in a classroom is stressful and difficult,” said Melissa Kay Diliberti, an assistant policy researcher at Rand who has studied how both current and former teachers feel about their work. Teachers who say they are considering quitting, even if they don’t follow through, are indicating job dissatisfaction, she added. “That says something about morale.” 

In Indianapolis, the idea of flex time for teachers came after educators proved over the last 2½ years that they could transition from remote instruction to socially distanced classes to fully in-person learning, Moseman said. District officials thought now was a perfect time to investigate making big changes. The district is working with the national nonprofit to create some plans that can be tested this year. 

Three ideas seem to be early leaders. One would designate a master teacher who would offer “high-quality remote learning” to multiple classes online while the other teachers on the team have flex time. Moseman emphasized that any virtual component would take up only a small portion of a student’s week, as opposed to the all-day, every day remote learning the district used during the early days of the pandemic. 

The second idea would be a day or block of time when students would work online completing teacher assignments on their own. The third concept would change the entire school calendar: Instead of taking classes from August to May, students would attend school for five consecutive weeks and then have one week off. Two-week breaks would occur in the summer and around the winter holidays.

The district expects to test two or more options by January, Moseman said. Several classrooms would pilot each program; the goal is to have an entire school use the new model by the 2023-24 academic year.

Indianapolis already has lots of school choice, including traditional public schools, charters and magnet schools. Any flex time program would have to work in all types of schools, Moseman said. And while the district has some funds to spend creating a plan, ultimately, the flex time arrangement can’t add staff or expenses to the budget, he added. “That’s a tight needle to thread.”

Moseman said the plan is part of a broader effort to make teaching more attractive, as Indianapolis competes for staff not only with neighboring districts, but with private-sector companies seeking talent for white-collar jobs.

The district is vetting its plans with a 10-member advisory group, which includes principals, a teacher and district officials. While Moseman said teacher approval would be vital, the district hasn’t run any of its ideas past the Indianapolis Education Association yet. Union officials did not respond to several inquiries for comment.

The one educator on the advisory panel, Rosiland Jackson, is a second/third grade teacher at the K-8 William Penn School 49. She said she likes the idea of gaining a substantial chunk of flex time but isn’t sure it would bolster recruitment or retention. 

Right now, Jackson said, teachers typically have a 35-minute free period during the school day that can be swallowed up quickly by calls with parents, meetings with students or discussions with other teachers. 

She opposes changing the school calendar, saying she thinks the week off would “not be productive to the classroom” because students need time to re-acclimate after a break. Plus, the change would disrupt family schedules and teachers’ summer vacations. 

She also questioned the idea of using a master teacher in a grade level or subject, saying, “Teachers are very territorial about classes and students.” Having students learn online part of the time might work if it isn’t too much like the remote learning in 2020, which neither parents nor teachers felt worked for students, she added.

Susan Moore Johnson, a Harvard University professor of education, was skeptical that Indianapolis’s plans would improve teacher retention: “I haven’t heard anyone say flex time would change their career.” And she rejected the notion of remote learning, saying, “Subbing virtual teaching for in-person teaching is a bad idea.” 

Creating more time for teachers to work together sounds more like good scheduling than the overhauls being discussed, she added. 

While Jackson said she liked the idea of flex time, she believes it wouldn’t make a huge difference in attracting or retaining teachers. “Would it help? Some, but not a lot. Teachers have been bashed for so long about what a horrible job we’re doing. … The narrative has to be changed in this country” to make the profession more appealing.

The plan, released in April, seeks to make Black student success a top priority for the governor and state education department. It also calls for equitable educational funding statewide and for the elimination of the digital divide, among a dozen other strategies.��

It provides clear action steps in a state where Black students trail their white and Hispanic peers on virtually every educational measure, as evidenced by test scores out of the Indianapolis Public Schools: Last year, just in the district passed both the math and English sections of the state exams.

NAACP Education Committee member Carole Craig, who co-edited the report, said substantive change requires a new way of thinking about this group.��

“First, we must agree that all Black children can succeed,” she told The 74. “If we don’t make a serious difference in the next couple of years, we are crippling the ability of this state to have a viable working class, to be a part of a global economy for all of its citizens.”

Most jobs require at least two years of education beyond high school, she said: Those who fail to graduate or pursue college will be unqualified.��

Russ Skiba, professor emeritus at Indiana University, praised the NAACP’s proposal for its concrete answer to an educational crisis that has gone largely unaddressed for decades.

“What is so impressive about this plan is that it’s a blueprint,” said Skiba, former director of The Equity Project at Indiana University, which provides evidence-based information on school discipline, school violence, special education and education equality. “It says, essentially, that if we are serious about addressing the gaps in our schools, which grow into gaps in our society, make no mistake, then these are the things that need to happen.”��

NAACP Education Chair Garry Holland said the report contains nothing new, that the data has been available for years. 

So, too, he said, has the funding to bring positive change. What hasn’t materialized, at least not yet, is a concerted, sustained, statewide effort to improve these students’ educational experience. 

“When you look at professional development, cultural competency, anti-bias training, does the school have the will to do these things and help these children?” he asked. “Money has been made available through ESSA (federal Every Student Succeeds Act) for that to happen. We know you have the resources. But do you have the will?”

Shawnta Barnes, an educational consultant who worked in Indianapolis Public Schools for three years ending in 2018, is among those trying to build that resolve. Barnes, who helped shape the NAACP’s plan, is now promoting it to local districts, presenting it not as a critique of their current practice, but as an opportunity to improve.��

“Each of us has been assigned to different school districts and have been going out and having intimate conversations about it,” said Barnes, the mother of two boys enrolled in Washington Township Schools in Indianapolis. “We don’t want any school to feel we are attacking them. It’s more of, ‘This is our plan and how can we help you?’ We’re here to talk to schools, see if they are willing to work with us … and help them get grants and connect them with resources. We are a partner… and we will be down at the Statehouse fighting for the policies to be passed.”

The NAACP’s plan faces numerous hurdles, among them that Black students are spread throughout many districts, even within Indianapolis, meaning advocates will have to sell the proposal to each one.��

Aleesia Johnson, superintendent of the Indianapolis Public Schools, the state’s largest, has already pledged to address the disparity. Her district, which serves 31,000 students, including those in charter schools, spent the 2021–22 school year designing a tiered support system for those campuses that have three consecutive semesters of “F” state-designated letter grades and are at the bottom of critical education metrics.��

These schools overwhelmingly serve Black and Hispanic students.��

In addition to expanding its tutoring program, her district has already partnered with two groups it hopes will improve student success: One is recognized for its anti-racist approach to learning and the other focuses on school district transformation.

“Unfortunately, the findings of the NAACP report on Black student achievement are not surprising,” Johnson said in a statement to The 74. “The results are all too common among school districts across the country.”

Looking to repeat anti-CRT victory��

Though the NAACP’s plan faces numerous challenges, proponents take heart in an earlier, surprise win: The same coalition that managed to in Indiana earlier this year — including the Urban League, Equity Project, Indiana State Teachers Association and Indiana Black Legislative Caucus, among many others — also supports the NAACP’s plan. 

Critical race theory, which examines how American racism has impacted a wide range of the country’s systems and institutions, has become a catch-all phrase made popular by and politicians trying to around issues of race. Many thought the same type of anti-CRT legislation passed in would be embraced in Indiana, which considered a ban on that could make students feel guilt or discomfort because of their race or ethnic background.

But several gaffes from Republican legislators — Sen. Scott Baldwin said educators in teaching about Marxism, Nazism and fascism, for example —��and pressure from advocacy groups ensured its ��

Those same activists are already pushing for the NAACP’s success. 

Brandon Brown, CEO of The Mind Trust, an Indianapolis-based nonprofit that has helped launch dozens of new schools in the city, including many charters, is hopeful about the plan’s prospects. He said there is a growing acknowledgment from critical stakeholders that racial achievement gaps are unacceptable. 

“The NAACP has gotten a wide variety of audiences with state-level leadership who have been amenable to the data and strategies they laid out,” he said. 

The civil rights group is not yet collaborating with specific legislators to further its agenda. But it does have a list of priorities it hopes to achieve: It seeks full-day kindergarten — right now, children are not required to attend school until age 7 — and quality preschool for all, a revised school funding formula focused on equity, the creation of a legislative Department of Education equity officer and funding for “grow-your-own” school programs designed to recruit and retain Black teachers. 

“Each of these legislative items require the advocacy efforts of all of the voting citizens of Indiana and especially those organizations that lobby and have connections with legislators,” Craig said. 

Been here before

But some of what the NAACP proposes mirrors what was already agreed to by the state as part of its . Unfortunately, Indiana has struggled with the benchmarks established through the Obama-era directive. 

Indiana’s ESSA plan was first implemented in the 2017-18 school year and pledged to “ in English/language arts and mathematics for all student groups by 50 percent by 2023 for high school and by 2026 for elementary and middle school.” But the state couldn’t meet the commitment — COVID alone marked a major setback — and has since . 

“It’s one thing to have it in the law,” said Mark A. Russell, director of education and family services for the Indianapolis Urban League, speaking of ESSA. “It’s another to have it enforced. The patterns that are so prevalent for Black students have continued unabated. In fact, they have worsened since ESSA was first adopted.”

And it’s not the only time the state has failed to live up to a prior pledge. Indiana passed a in 2004 that was supposed to better prepare teachers for the classroom. But, so far, it has not materialized, activists say. 

“We are still trying to make sure it was being enacted,” said Gwendolyn J. Kelley, NAACP Education Committee member and the report’s lead editor. “It was as if a law was passed and put on the shelf and no one was monitoring it.”

But even more than monitoring existing laws or adding new ones, Kelley and other NAACP leaders face an even tougher battle: ending the state’s tradition of failing to recognize Black students’ talent.

“The whole idea of high expectations for children is key,” Kelley said. “When people’s mindsets change, they will implement all of the strategies we have in place.”

Disclosure: The Mind Trust provides financial support to The 74.