Here’s what Freshman Academies will look like at Cedar Rapids high schools

CEDAR RAPIDS — Beginning next fall, ninth-graders in the Cedar Rapids Community School District will get connected to a smaller learning environment and explore their career interests in a new program called Freshman Academies.

Ninth-grade students at three of the high schools — Jefferson, Kennedy and Washington — will take core classes in the subjects of math, science, language arts and social studies in addition a new “freshman seminar,” which educators say will better prepare them for high school and life.

The Freshman Academies will have their own entrances and wing of the building to create smaller learning communities within each school. Teams of teachers will support students in cohorts, building more meaningful relationships and giving students “voice and choice” in their learning, Superintendent Tawana Grover said in an interview with The Gazette.

Students in the academies still will have the opportunity to participate electives, fine arts and athletics and have access to common spaces in the school including the cafeteria and library.

“We have 1,600 kids here,” said Alex Pelzel, an industrial technology teacher at Jefferson High School. “If you want to get lost in that, you can. It’s harder to get lost when you’re talking about 100 kids in an academy. It’s reducing those spaces for kids to get lost.”

The district sees the largest exodus of students entering their 10th, 11th and 12th grade year, Grover said.

“There has to be some concentrated effort once they get here in ninth grade to make them stay. That freshman seminar is an opportunity to start igniting some of their passions, their interests and giving them a purpose and reason for coming to school,” she said.

On the heels of the Freshman Academies, the district will launch its College and Career Pathways during the 2026-27 school year. Students will choose classes in an industry that interests them beginning their sophomore year.

Every student beginning the sophomore year will take at least one class in a pathway of their choosing each semester.

“We’re talking one elective class each semester for three years. That’s the difference,” said Charlie Goetzinger, associate principal at Jefferson High School, where a version of Freshman Academies has been in place for a decade under different names.

“Students can still take Advanced Placement classes, Project Lead the Way, world languages and fine arts — all of those still exist. We’re just saying one class each semester has to be aligned to a pathway where you might be able to earn a certification and get exposure to something beyond high school you might be interested in,” Goetzinger said.

The academies will provide every ninth-grader the chance to job shadow, go on a college visit and learn what it means to be an engaged citizen.

Today, students are introduced to career exploration in middle school through an assessment called Xello. “But it stops there,” Grover said. “There’s no room for them to explore even what they just learned about themselves through that assessment,” Grover said.

The freshman seminars, however, will expose ninth-graders to careers so students can learn more about their options after high school and begin to develop a plan for their future, Grover said.

“It’s a way to give students a meaningful way to connect their learning to their own individualized passions and goals,” Grover said.

Pelzel said his goes beyond preparing students for college or a career. “We’re preparing kids for the rest of their lives,” he said. “It keeps options in front of kids and makes them personal and relevant without locking them in.”

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Learn more about Freshman Academies

Families can learn more about the Freshman Academies and College and Career Pathways next week at informational meetings. The meetings are designed for middle school students, parents and guardians whose children will be directly impacted by the changes, but anyone is welcome to attend and learn about the new model.

The meetings are:

“Our teachers, staff and administrators have spent countless hours planning for this moment where we’re ready to engage with our families. We fully expect some feedback and expect them to ask us all the questions,” Grover said.

Diving deeper in pathways

Beginning their sophomore year, students will be able to choose which elective classes to take in the Pathways program.

Grover said she anticipates opportunities for current eighth grade families to begin registering for high school mid-January.

Jefferson, Kennedy, Washington and Metro high schools will offer slightly different Pathways, and students and their families can choose to enroll in a school and pathway outside of their attendance boundary.

A student already may know they want to attend a pathway their sophomore year that isn’t offered at their assigned high school, Grover said. That’s where families can make a decision if they want to enroll into a different school in Cedar Rapids.

“Our families are engaged and they have 1,000 questions right now, and that’s going to help make our model stronger and make sure it’s meeting the needs of our students,” Grover said.

Students also might opt into taking one class at another high school and remaining the rest of the day at their home high school. This already is happening across the district with students taking advantage of unique course offerings at other schools. For example, some students at different high schools in the Cedar Rapids district go to Washington High for an advanced culinary class.

Grover said she’s “excited to find out” how many students might be interested in doing to a high school outside their attendance boundary for the Pathways program.

Grover said with the Pathways not launching until fall 2026, school officials still are working through what the transportation needs of students could look like under the program and how the district will meet those needs.

Some of the high schools also will offer similar pathways. For example, Jefferson High will offer a School of Engineering, Construction & Manufacturing. Washington High will have a similar program with academies in Engineering & Manufacturing and Architecture & Construction.

Washington High also will have a School of Medical Sciences while Kennedy High will have academies in Health Occupations and Health Sciences.

Students won’t have to stay in the pathway they choose initially. “If junior year, you decide your interests have changed, you can jump right in” to a new pathway, Goetzinger said.

Students aren’t being asked to decide while in high school “what they’re going to do for the rest of their lives,” Goetzinger said. “We’re giving them exposure to something they might be interested in.”

By senior year, students possibly could be job shadowing, interning or apprenticing with a business partner. Some students already are experiencing this at City View Community High School, a project-based school in the Cedar Rapids district that students can opt into.

“We’re going to find spaces for those kids,” Pelzel said. “We’ve got to be creative on our end. It’s not going to be the same thing for every kid. That’s the beauty of it though, right?”

Grover said the district has been engaging with the business community for more than a year to ensure there are “enough partnerships we can plug our students into.”

“It’s equally important for students to find out what they like and what they don’t like,” she said.

What are the Pathways?

Under the plan, each of the Cedar Rapids high schools will have its own identified pathways and academies. When students are sophomores, they will have the opportunity to choose a pathway at Jefferson, Kennedy, Metro or Washington beginning fall 2026.

Jefferson High School: The College & Career Pathways will be Law & Human Services, Aviation & Engineering and Environmental Science & Sustainability.

Kennedy High School: The College & Career Pathways will be the School of Liberal Arts. The academies under the School of Liberal Arts will be:

Metro High School: The College and Career Pathways will be the School of Health & Hospitality. This will include academies in Food Science & Urban Agriculture, Hospitality & Business and Medical Laboratory Science.

Washington High School: College & Career Pathways will include the Schools of Medical Sciences, Business & Media and Engineering & Technology.

Comments: (319) 398-8411; grace.king@thegazette.com