Name of City
Name of City
At Project-Based Tech Valley High School, Small Is Big
Uniquely funded school serves 30 districts, and balances high expectations with close relationships.
Greg Toppo
Boston
For Students Who Struggle, Boston High School Offers ‘Space to Grow Emotionally’
Boston Day and Evening Academy gives non-traditional students a nearly obsessive level of attention, from small classes to free city bus passes.
Greg Toppo
Massachusetts
Competency-Based Parker Essential School Succeeds by Doing More With Less
The ground-breaking charter school is known for small classes, no grades and huge focus on personalization.
Greg Toppo
Philadelphia
Philadelphia’s Building 21 Tackles ‘Unfinished Learning’ While Pushing Students to Find Their Passions
Founded by two Harvard classmates, it prioritizes internships, asking why learning must stay confined to ‘this place called school.’
Greg Toppo
United States
Campus Road Trip Diary: 8 Things We Learned This Year About America’s Most Innovative High Schools
Reporters at The 74 fanned across America to find some of the nation’s most inventive and personalized high schools. Here’s what we learned.
Greg Toppo & Emmeline Zhao
Alaska
Alaska Natives Are Claiming Their Seat at the Table
The Alaska Native Science and Engineering Program is combating the belief that “natives were not smart enough” to hold degrees or jobs in STEM fields.
Emmeline Zhao & Jim Fields
New York
Their Post-Grads Got Off Track. Then a Brooklyn High School Launched ’13th Grade’
Thousands of young adults are not working or going to college. How high schools like NYC’s MESA Charter can bolster support well after graduation.
Marianna McMurdock
Minnesota
Hip Hop Is Saving Teen Lives in Minnesota
By connecting with at-risk youth through music that is embedded in Twin Cities culture, one high school is getting students to learn — off the streets
Jim Fields & Emmeline Zhao
Rhode Island
Internships Rule at The Met, Where High School is a Matter of ‘Trial and Error’
For more than 27 years, this legendary Providence institution has devoted itself to placing students ‘in an environment where they want to work.’
Greg Toppo
Washington, D.C.
A High School for Dropouts: Goodwill Offers Adults a Second Chance at a Diploma
From the organization known for second-hand records and cookware comes a school devoted to personalized attention and ‘small wins.’
Greg Toppo
Arizona
Build Your Own High School: Phoenix Students Choose from 500 Classes, Internships, College Courses, Career Programs & More
At Phoenix Union City, high school doesn’t refer to a building but a personalized path of experiences that teenagers create for themselves.
Beth Hawkins
California
How a California Wine Region Is ‘Growing Futures’ By Turning Vineyards Into State-of-the-Art Classrooms
Through a collaboration across industry and schools, Lodi is revitalizing a vital wine growing community.
Jim Fields & Emmeline Zhao
New York
With 1,000 Applicants for 140 Seats, NYC’s Harbor School Set for Major Expansion
The high school, where students can graduate with industry certifications in marine science or tech, will more than double its enrollment by 2030.
Jo Napolitano
Rhode Island
To Combat Nursing Shortage, Rhode Island Charter Turns to High School Students
As COVID and other factors decimate nursing profession, a Providence high school trains students to start their careers as young as 14.
Greg Toppo
IDAHO
‘Meaningful, Big Things’ at One Stone, the Student-Led High School of Invention
Teachers are 'coaches,' classes are 'workshops' and students get treated as adults in a school where traditional instruction gets turned on its head.
Greg Toppo
Kansas
In This School District’s ‘Test Kitchen,’ Teens Go Beyond the Classroom to Build Drones, Research Cancer & Try Out Careers
At Kansas’s Blue Valley CAPS, high-schoolers spend 3 hours a day dipping their toes in adult professions — real life, but with ‘bubble wrap,’ one says
Greg Toppo
South Carolina
From Textiles to Tech: How Rural South Carolina Trains Students for New Industry
Anderson County school districts and local industry are collaborating to educate and train its next generation workforce for an evolving economy.
Jim Fields & Emmeline Zhao
New York
Opportunity Grows in Brooklyn: How One High School Rebounded From COVID By Re-engaging Students & Restoring Teacher Morale
After the pandemic, leaders at Brooklyn Laboratory Charter High School prioritized team-taught classes, full special ed inclusion & student advisories
Marianna McMurdock
California
A Tinseltown High School Where the Syllabus is Lights, Props and Makeup
L.A.’s celebrity-backed Roybal Film and Television Production Magnet program seeks to link minority students to behind-the-scenes jobs in TV and film.
Linda Jacobson
Queens, NY
Robotics-Themed NYC High School Fills Roster in Inaugural Year
Students who spent their childhoods picking apart their toys to see how they worked find new home in program aimed at growing STEM skills.
Jo NapolitanoUpcoming School Visits
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