A Vision for Success: Mary Beth Smith on the Academies of Louisville in 2025
This interview offers a perspective on the year to come from Mary Beth Smith, Director of the Academies of Louisville.
Q: What would you highlight as the most important achievement for the Academies of Louisville in 2024?
Mary Beth: Without a doubt, it's the establishment of our Student Ambassador Leadership Team, or SALT. This group of 30 students from across our 15 schools has become a vital part of our decision-making process. We’re focused on gathering student voices and giving them a chance to shape their own experiences. For example, when the SALT team provided feedback on the upper grades experience guide, they suggested making participation in events like spirit days optional instead of mandatory, as the Vision Team had advised. I listened to their feedback and took their suggestion.
The SALT team has even been added to the governance structure of the Academies of Louisville. Their contributions are crucial to our mission, ensuring that we’re not just hearing from students but actively listening and incorporating their ideas into what we do. It’s all about creating a community where everyone feels heard!
Q: What is your primary strategic priority for the Academies of Louisville in 2025?
Mary Beth: Our main focus for the rest of the academic year is completing the upper grades experience guide. We've had great success with our freshman experience guide, and now we want to extend that approach to all our Academies students. I meet every six weeks with Freshman Academy counselors, APs, and Academy Coaches, and they all agree that the Freshman Experience Guide has increased the number of experiences the freshmen receive. So I am eager to make the same improvements for the upper academies. It's about creating a structured yet flexible framework that really supports our students as they progress through high school.
Q: What significant events or initiatives can we look forward to in the coming year?
Mary Beth: Waggener High School received model National Career Academy Coalition (NCAC) status last year for its three academies, and now we're expanding those reviews. Seneca is putting all four of its academies up for model status, and Fern Creek is submitting its Freshman Academy for review. It's a great way to get an outside perspective on our work and validate all the incredible things we're doing.
We're also deep into budget planning and master scheduling season. These might sound like administrative details, but they're crucial for setting up our students for success. We're constantly refining our career pathway templates to ensure we're giving students the most relevant and forward-thinking opportunities.
Q: How did we improve the connection between classroom learning and real-world skills in 2024, and what new approaches are we planning for 2025?
Mary Beth: I’ve seen a real shift in how we approach education over my career. It's not just about preparing students for college anymore - we're focused on getting them ready for both college and career. We've been working hard to break down the walls between different departments. It's no longer the English department doing their thing and the CTE teachers doing something else. Now, we've got everyone coming together with one goal: helping our students succeed in the real world.
One of the big wins we've seen is our postsecondary readiness rate hitting 78% - that's the highest it's ever been for our AofL schools! It's all about creating a unified voice among our faculty that this stuff really matters. We're constantly encouraging our teachers to put their arms around the students, to support them in connecting what they're learning to real-world applications.
Q: Any final thoughts as we start the new year?
Mary Beth: After 27 years in this work, I'm more excited and motivated than ever. I'm just reaching my running speed, and I have no plans to slow down! This work continues to inspire me every single day. I love seeing our students succeed. The best is yet to come!