IPS plan to keep students interested in school? Give them career training

Indianapolis Public Schools leaders have a new vision for the district’s high schools: converting each campus to a career academy.

The plan unveiled today would be part of dramatic reshaping of the district’s high schools, including closing several of the existing buildings. The new model would replace traditional neighborhood high schools, which draw students based on their addresses, with magnet schools that house several career or academic focus areas.

The academies are designed to keep students interested in school and give them the skills to find well-paying jobs or succeed in college after graduation. The focus areas were chosen because there is student interest and good jobs are available in Indianapolis.

The proposal is the first detailed outline of a vision revealed last summer by Superintendent Lewis Ferebee. It would preserve the existing magnet programs in the district, such as the performing arts program at Broad Ripple High School, the medical program at Crispus Attucks High School and the International Baccalaureate at Shortridge High School. But it would also create seven additional focus areas based on student interest and the Indianapolis job market.

“Everything that we currently offer now will be on the table, but we will also be adding … career academies,” Ferebee said.

The proposed career academy focus areas are:

  • Health sciences;
  • Manufacturing, engineering and logistics;
  • Education;
  • Construction, engineering and design;
  • Business and finance;
  • Information technology; and
  • Military.

The administration has not announced where each academy will be housed, but Ferebee said the locations would be chosen based in part on how long bus rides would be.

The proposal is not guaranteed to become reality. When Ferebee floated the idea of career academies last August it received mixed feedback from school board members, who must approve the plan. The administration is expected to make a recommendation for which high schools to close and what academic programs to offer in June. The board plans to vote on a final plan in September.

Career academies are reminiscent of similar efforts in Indianapolis and across the nation. In 2005, IPS converted its high schools to small theme-based academies with the help of millions of dollars in funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, but soon abandoned the plans.

Career and technical education, or vocational schools, have a long history but they have been getting more attention in recent years. Nashville won national praise for converting its schools to career academies a decade ago, an example Ferebee cited as a model for Indianapolis last summer.