Ever since Owensboro Innovation Academy opened in 2015 as a new project-based learning school, it has been a member of the New Tech Network. The nonprofit, which has more than 200 member schools nationwide, recently recognized OIA as a Spotlight School — highlighting the school culture, community partnerships, and dedication to success.
According to their website, New Tech Network (NTN) is “dedicated to systemic change in education.” They work closely with district leaders, school principals, and classroom educators to co-design an approach to change that is specific to their context.
NTN schools are committed to key focus areas including college- and career-ready outcomes, supportive and inclusive culture, meaningful and equitable instruction, and purposeful assessment.
“The student experience is tied directly to deeper learning outcomes,” the NTN website says. “Students gain skills and use their voices in ways that prepare them for life beyond school. Project-based learning in NTN schools allows students to engage with material in creative, culturally relevant ways, experience it in context, and share their learning with peers.”
OIA implemented the NTN Model in 2015 upon opening the doors for its first cohort of students.
“(OIA) has since developed a customized school culture and robust community partnership program that benefits its students and the community,” the NTN Spotlight on the school says. “OIA leaders regularly attend NTN professional development trainings and workshops to continually improve their classroom instructional practices and receive coaching services and ongoing support.”
After the pandemic halted progress — specifically preventing group work and community involvement — OIA leadership had to find a way to get back on track.
“To address these challenges, OIA and iMiddle created a shared PBL instructional coach position and launched a school-wide project to rebuild collaboration, community partnerships, and school culture,” the Spotlight says. “This ‘rebranding’ effort focused on collaboration, inquiry-based learning, authentic assessments, and student agency. Over time, with the support of the PBL instructional coach, increased teacher collaboration, and administrative backing, OIA began to regain its former excellence.”
OIA remained committed to ensuring all students, including those with IEPs, had access to dual credit courses, industry certifications, and pathways to post-secondary success. The school has achieved notable success, with 94% of IEP students qualifying for Academic or Career transition readiness and 74% of all students enrolled in college credit courses, according to the release. For example, 71% of current seniors have met the criteria for academic and career readiness, 16% have met the criteria for career readiness only, and 9.5% have met only academic readiness, per the release.
Former OIA Principal Beth Benjamin said the success depends on buy-in from students, staff, and community partners.
“It’s almost like a triangle,” Benjamin said in the release. “We have our community, who are very supportive. We have our teachers, who are thinking outside the box and are willing to take risks, and we have the Network. We rely heavily on the NTN systems and protocols. You learn things you can tweak and do differently to be successful. It’s like a playbook.”
The community partnerships program at OIA has created opportunities for students and community members to connect over shared projects — so much so that OIA was recognized in early 2022 by the Greater Owensboro Chamber of Commerce as the Education & Workforce Development Institution of the Year.
“OIA creates a love for knowledge and intellectual curiosity, and creates learners that contribute back to the local economy,” said Chamber President/CEO Candance Brake. “The community partnerships with OIA also help many people in these companies rediscover their passion. Working with young people is where you find relevance in your work for the next generation. They spark a passion that always ignited us, and help businesses reconnect with that.”
Brake also stated that the students benefit from the networking aspect inherent in community partnerships.
“Students will develop pathways to careers locally, and get people to become their champions — people that will help them access college, internships, and eventually, a career, if they build and maintain those connections,” she said.
OIA’s successful community partnerships program includes the local headquarters of businesses like Southern Star Pipeline (who provide volunteer judges and help with the school’s robotics tournaments); Puzzle Pieces, a nonprofit dedicated to helping children and adults with disabilities (where students have donated 3D puzzles they’ve created for clients); and the Chamber of Commerce that connects students with business leaders in the area.
The sustainable structure of OIA’s project-based learning academy is a result of years of hard work, dedicated leaders and community partners, and a commitment to working through a process that provides the best outcomes for its students.
“You can’t just copy [a model] and think it’s going to work,” Benjamin said. “You have to work through the process. And we wouldn’t be where we are today without our community, and those relationships, along with our curriculum and the rigor that’s part of that. New Tech Network is definitely the one to credit for that.”
