Hopkins School District #270

Hopkins Public Schools and its schools, programs, and departments earn numerous awards and accolades for professionalism and focus on student achievement.

Torchlight Technology Award

Hopkins Public Schools has received the prestigious Torchlight Award from Promethean, a global leader in interactive technology. Hopkins is one of only 15 school districts nationwide to be honored with this distinction. Hopkins Public Schools is a participant in the Light the Flame program, and is dedicated to education through leadership, commitment to impacting achievement, technology focus and innovation, engagement in learning communities, and valuing a collaborative partnership. Light the Flame is a Promethean education program designed to establish and support long-term, mutually beneficial partnerships among Torchlight districts with the common goal of spreading best practices, and significantly impacting student achievement through the innovative integration of technology into the teaching and learning process.

School Finance Award

Hopkins Public Schools was one of about 60 school districts in the state to qualify for a Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) School Finance Award for 2010. Hopkins received this prestigious financial reporting honor for its 2008-09 fiscal year financial results. This is the third consecutive year Hopkins has received the award.

Since 2003, the MDE has recognized school organizations that exhibit sound fiscal health and financial management policies and procedures. To earn this honor, Hopkins:

• Complied with all state requirements for meeting financial reporting deadlines
• Had positive fund balances in the general fund, food service fund, and community education fund
• Developed school board-approved fund balance policies

In addition, Hopkins School Board members met the required financial training components for elected officials.

Top National Rankings for Hopkins High School

In 2010, Hopkins High School once again was ranked among the top 5 percent of high schools in the nation, according to Newsweek magazine's annual listing of top U.S. high schools. This is the sixth consecutive year that Hopkins has earned a place on the list, which this year is based on the number of Advanced Placement (AP) or International Baccalaureate (IB) exams given in 2009 divided by the number of 2009 graduating seniors. To make the list of the top 5 percent, a school must have an index of at least 1.0. Hopkins' index was 1.466.

In addition, Hopkins High School has been named as one of the top-performing high schools in the nation in a report on America's Best High Schools released by U.S. News and World Report last year. Hopkins was one of 11 high schools in the state honored with a Silver Medal. The America's Best High Schools project is an annual report that identifies the country's top-performing high schools. The goal is to provide a clear, unbiased picture of how well public schools serve all of their students in preparing them to demonstrate proficiency in basic skills as well as readiness for college-level work.

National Recognition for Health/Wellness Focus

Four Hopkins schools--Eisenhower Elementary/XinXing Academy, Hopkins High School, L.H. Tanglen Elementary, and Meadowbrook Elementary--received national Bronze Awards from the Alliance for a Healthier Generation for their focus on healthy eating and physical activity. Representatives from the four schools, including Nancy Marcy and Bobbi Pointer from Hopkins High School, Erin Ley from L.H. Tanglen, Mindy Erdal and Greta Evans-Becker from Meadowbrook Elementary, and Jill Rost and Vicky White from Eisenhower/XinXing Academy, received the awards from former President Bill Clinton in June 2010 in New York City.

High-Achieving Secondary Schools Showcare

Hopkins West Junior High has been invited to participate in the Breaking Ranks 2009 Secondary School Showcase, which is presented by the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) and The Center for Secondary School Redesign. Breaking Ranks is part of the NASSP convention, which takes place in late February. The showcase features teams of students, principals, and teachers from 18 high-achieving secondary schools that will share their proven strategies for addressing current top education issues, including overcoming challenges, leveraging resources, and raising student achievement to the next level. Hopkins West Junior High's team will present Leading the Literacy Change, which includes tips and strategies on how to use data to inform literacy instruction, how students and staff members can be hooked on the power of literacy, and how literacy initiatives are aligned to eliminating the achievement gap. Hopkins West Junior High was invited to participate in the 2008 Breaking Ranks Showcase as well.

Grant Award to Expand Chinese Immersion Program

With a major grant awarded in 2009, Hopkins will expand its Chinese immersion program, developing an interdisciplinary curriculum from engineering, to language arts, math, science, social studies, technology, art. Working in collaboration with two other Minnesota school districts, Hopkins Public Schools received a major Foreign Language Assistance (FLAP) grant from the United States Department of Education. The five-year, $1.4 million, FLAP grant will enable Hopkins to develop a well-articulated, kindergarten through 12th grade, Mandarin Chinese immersion program that has a science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) curricular focus. 

Sally Ride Science Pilot Project

Hopkins North Junior High was selected to participate in the Sally Ride Science pilot program, which is an initiative to increase student interest in science and science careers. Developed for middle school students, this supplementary science curriculum aims to encourage students to expand their interests, and to consider career possibilities in science through the use of diverse role models, engaging activities, and specific content that supports Minnesota's science standards. HNJH was one of 12 schools selected to participate in the program. Funding for this initiative is provided by the National Governors Association's honor state grant. Participating teachers received a half day of training.

Wellness by Design Gold Awards

All of Hopkins' schools have been awarded the Wellness by Design Gold Award from Hennepin County. The award recognizes schools that go above and beyond to create healthy environments for their students and staff. The schools were judged on eight criteria, taken from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's School Health Policies and Programs Study (SHPPS): health services, health education, healthy school environment, nutrition, physical education, family and community involvement, health promotion for staff, and counseling, psychological, and social services.

Gold Medal School District

Hopkins Public Schools was designated a Gold Medal school district by Expansion Management magazine in its 16th annual Education Quotient issue. As a Gold Medal school district, Hopkins is ranked as one of the top 16 percent of school districts in the nation. Each year, Expansion Management compares more 2,819 school districts across the country on how well they are preparing students to be part of the work force after graduation.

MSBA District Award of Distinction

Hopkins Public Schools has received the Minnesota School Boards Association's (MSBA) District Award of Distinction, an honor that recognizes Hopkins's superintendent and school board members for their commitment to good governance through board training. Hopkins was one of eight districts in the state to receive the prestigious award in 2009. The award was presented during MSBA's Leadership Conference Recognition Luncheon. School districts earn the award when a majority of members have completed milestones in training in education issues and productive governance. 

Academic Excellence Honors

Hopkins North Junior High (HNJH) was selected as a recipient of the 2006 Minnesota Academic Excellence Foundation (MAEF) School Spotlight Award. The award is given to schools that have demonstrated significant gains in achievement for all students, and that have worked to eliminate the achievement gap.

Narrowing Achievement Gap Honors

Two Hopkins schools–Hopkins High School and Hopkins North Junior High–were honored by Standard & Poor's School Evaluation Services for their efforts in narrowing the achievement gap between higher- and lower-performing student groups. Both schools were honored for narrowing the achievement gap between black and white students. Hopkins North Junior High was also one of two schools to receive additional recognition for narrowing the gap between economically disadvantaged students and all students.

Teaching for Intelligence Conference

Hopkins North Junior High (HNJH) was featured as a site visit for the National Urban Alliances (NUA) fall Teaching for Intelligence conference. A HNJH earth science teacher, language arts teacher, and HNJH principal led a presentation entitled, "Data DOA? Not at North!" The presentation focused on the use of thinking maps to improve cognition and writing and how it can increase the students' ability to become complex communicators.

What Parents Want

For nine consecutive years, Hopkins Public Schools received the What Parents Want award from SchoolMatch, a national school evaluation company, based on the District's success in meeting the needs of families choosing schools. Only 16.2 percent of the nation's 15,573 (2,519) public school districts have received this recognition.

National Schools of Excellence

All of the schools in Hopkins Public Schools are accredited. Additionally, all three secondary schools in the District are National Schools of Excellence—Hopkins High School was the first high school in Minnesota to receive that prestigious award. The district's two junior high schools were the first middle-level schools in the Twin Cities metropolitan area to receive the honor. In 2001, Gatewood Elementary School was named a National School of Excellence, the first elementary school in the district to receive this honor.