One of the dilemmas of education is just how to define it. Is it all about becoming a well-rounded individual through a classical curriculum of Latin, Shakespearean drama, art appreciation and history? Or is it more about acquiring the skills to become employable in the ever-evolving workplace?
For centuries, the answer was clear: The more one knew about a variety of subjects, the better educated he/she was considered.
In today’s digital and technological age, things aren’t so simple. Most employers are looking for a specialist rather than a generalist.
A plumber must know more about leaky toilets than an iambic pentameter verse. A medical professional need not be able to translate Ovid’s Metamorphoses from the original Latin, just be familiar with basic Latin terms for anatomy.
As more cities rethink how public education can better prepare students for real-world success, the Academies of Louisville is quietly emerging as a viable model.
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But wait … Isn’t this just fancy terminology for vocational schools?
Not at all, insists Kim Morales, Jefferson County Public Schools’ regional assistant superintendent of high schools, who has been with the Academies since its 2017 launching.
“That is a perception we have been battling from the start,” she said.
Explaining that the Academies is neither strictly college prep nor strictly vocational, Morales said it is a hybrid of both, preparing students for both college and a career.
“The Academies bring together traditional knowledge and career technical education through highly relevant learning experiences gained through meaningful community collaboration,” Morales said.
The Academies model works like this: Every student in JCPS, upon starting his/her freshman year, selects from 154 career pathways, with options including healthcare science, media arts, business, engineering and skilled trades.
Morales stressed that the student’s chosen pathway does not replace the subjects required to earn a diploma (yes, they will still study Shakespeare and American history).
What they will do differently is devote one hour a day to their career-path elective, and they must do it in tandem with the Academies’ community partners, who provide mentoring and real-life work experiences.
“This program could not work without an invested community,” Morales said.
More than just another vocational track, it’s a comprehensive, district-wide redesign of what public education can look like when it’s directly aligned with a city’s professional workforce.
Morales said Louisville modeled its program after a similar one in Nashville.
“A group of educators and business leaders, unhappy with high school graduates’ work readiness, traveled to Nashville to see how they had made it work,” she said.
The group had the support of then-Mayor Greg Fisher and the promise of combined monies from grants and the school district to fund their ambitious idea. Morales said the success of Nashville’s initiative emboldened them to forge ahead with their own plan.
“We now have a friendly banter with our Nashville counterparts,” she said with a laugh. “We tell them that while we were inspired by them, we think we have surpassed them in our implementation of the model.”
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To date, more than 20,000 students in all 15 Jefferson County public high schools have taken advantage of the initiative, partnering with some 435 businesses and community organizations (a meteoric rise from 11 students who signed on when the program first started).
One of those students is Jaden Bowman, a 2021 graduate of Southern High School. During his freshman year, he was given the opportunity to choose a curriculum that, in addition to standard requirements for graduation, included a career pathway curriculum as an elective.
Bowman, who said he has always been good with numbers, chose the financial services pathway, and under the guidance of finance professionals at Class Act Federal Credit Union, he set about learning the ABCs of managing money and building wealth.
“Without the Academies and their community partners, I would have had to learn about money management the hard way—through trial and error, the way my parents and grandparents did,” Bowman said.
Not only did he become proficient in balancing his budget, he obtained the tools to graduate “career ready.” After a brief stint at Subway, the only job he could find during the COVID-19 pandemic, Bowman’s experience at the Academies paid off.
His Class Act mentors sought him out and offered him a job as a teller. Over the next five years, he worked his way up to his current position as branch manager, where he supervises a staff of four.
Bowman credited the tangible skills he mastered at the Academies for his rapid rise.
“Before that, it seemed everyone had a vision for me except me,” he said.
Today, that vision is crystal clear. While he sees himself in a future CEO position, Bowman also gives back to the community that helped him attain his goal. He is active in business development for the Credit Union, but he said his greatest satisfaction came from teaching financial literacy classes to public school students from elementary through high school.
Kody Raymond, a 2020 graduate of Jeffersontown High School, took a different track. From his first machine-tool class his junior year, he discovered he had an affinity for working with such tools. Fast forward five years, and today, Raymond is a top-level machinist at Lantech, where he earns an excellent salary and a quarterly profit-sharing bonus check, which he said definitely comes in handy, since he is a new father.
“Starting in the Academies at J-Town at such an early age gave me the jumpstart I needed to find a career path and build a life,” Raymond said.
Reagan Young comes from a family of nurses, so it was no surprise that when it came time for the Valley High School student to choose her career pathway, it was in the health and medical field. During her senior year, Young saw her future begin to take shape.
“Some folks from Norton Healthcare came to the school and told us they had job opportunities for high school students to work with them,” Young said.
She began working 12 hours a week with Norton while taking her necessary classes to graduate. Three years later, Young is a patient care associate with responsibilities that include taking vital signs, stocking inventory and interacting with patients.
She currently balances her patient-care duties with studying nursing at Jefferson County Technical College.
“The best part is that as a Norton Scholar, I will graduate debt-free and with a guaranteed job waiting for me right here, and that is all because of Academies of Louisville,” Young said.
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What happens if students discover they have chosen the wrong pathway? They have anticipated that and planned for it, Morales said.
“Everything we do is intentional, starting with the students’ freshman year, when they are exposed to what’s available in the upper Academies (grades 10-12),” she said. “We encourage them to choose carefully, as we want the next three years to be a journey.”
But when you’re dealing with 14- and 15-year-olds, you can’t always expect adult decisions. If a freshman chooses a pathway and then discovers he/she doesn’t like it, can they change direction? Yes, assured Morales, emphasizing that the Academies are designed to reward students, not punish them.
“We want them to succeed, so if they have realized that they chose a pathway that doesn’t really interest them or that they aren’t suited for, they have a chance to select another one,” she said.
Morales said they urge students to take their time deciding the second time around because everything about the Academies is intentional and designed to further their career journey.
As an example, Morales cited a pre-law path student who is reading To Kill a Mockingbird in English class.
“The teacher may ask those pre-law students to evaluate Atticus Finch as an archetype through their lens,” she explained. “Then, a local law firm that is an Academies business partner may invite these students to present their perspectives to a panel of lawyers. This interaction helps them expand their understanding beyond their reading.”
That, after all, is their primary objective.
“The main thing we want the Academies do for students is allow them to leave with something more than a diploma,” Morales said.