Campus Spotlight: Innovative High School Supports Student Futures through Industry-Recognized Credentials

Overview + Challenges

North Gardens High School, a charter school in Miami Gardens, Florida, provides students at-risk of not graduating a pathway to a high school diploma and post-secondary success. A key component of the school’s unique approach to curriculum and instruction is an innovative program in Career and Technical Education (CTE) that has grown in both popularity and impact over the past few years. Many of the school’s students are already working to support families; they are less interested in pursuing a four-year college degree than in continuing to develop their professional skills and expanding their career opportunities. Some are already running small businesses and creating digital content professionally.

This mindset creates a challenging paradox: while these students have valuable digital and entrepreneurial skills, they often lack the credentials and formal business knowledge to translate their talents into sustainable careers with significant earning potential. As school leadership worked to expand CTE course offerings and participation, they also recognized a need to create relevant programming that aligns with students’ real-world activities and interests. They also sought to create new opportunities for students to gain industry-ready credentials while also earning the credits needed to graduate high school. 

The Partnership

The solution for meeting these needs began when Neil Jones, a social studies and business technology teacher with a background in FinTech, noticed his students’ entrepreneurial activities. “We have a girl that sells wigs, a kid that designs clothes, another who’s a TikTok creator,” he explains. “Some of these students are actually helping sustain their families with money from these ventures.”

Jones recognized his graduating seniors needed productive engagement during their final weeks of school and turned to a platform he had personally used for years: Coursera. His initial idea was to have students complete Google Professional Certificates to stay productive, but that quickly evolved into something much more ambitious.

Jones and Principal Dr. Laura Vesga saw an opportunity to expand CTE programming in a way that helps students professionalize their existing business activities, develop their innate skills and talents, and further their career long-term career interests. Working with Coursera, they began mapping courses from leading universities and companies against Florida’s state standards for CTE credit. 

Jones explains:

By choosing the right courses, we can offer 120% of the state standards. Students get high-quality content from leading educators like University of Illinois Gies College of Business, Google, IBM, and others. They’re earning certifications that carry real weight in the business world.

The program offers multiple pathways to success, whether students ultimately choose to pursue higher education or move directly into the workforce. The curriculum draws on courses on Coursera to focus on three programs:

E-commerce Marketing

• Collaborate Effectively for Professional Success, IBM

• Foundations of Digital Marketing and E-commerce, Google

• Brand and Product Management, IE Business School, Madrid

Entrepreneurship

• Introduction to Personal Finance, SoFi

• Developing Innovative Ideas for New Companies: The First Step in Entrepreneurship, University of Maryland, College Park

• Social Business Model and Planning for Social Innovation, Copenhagen Business School

Artificial Intelligence Foundations

• Introduction to Artificial Intelligence (AI), IBM

• Prompt Engineering for ChatGPT, Vanderbilt University

• GPT Vision: Seeing the World through Generative AI, Vanderbilt University

The goal is to give students the practical tools they need to succeed. This includes understanding legal frameworks for protecting intellectual property, acquiring basic accounting skills for managing finances, or implementing sound marketing strategies for growing their customer base. 

Most importantly, the program validates students’ interests while opening their eyes to new possibilities. “When you tie what they’re already doing to a Coursera course, it introduces them to college-level work in a way that feels relevant,” Vesga notes. “Some students who never considered college are starting to see it differently after succeeding in these courses.”

Impact

The shift in student mindset represents just one element of the program’s impact at North Gardens. Since launching their Coursera partnership, the school has seen significant growth in both course enrollments and completions, and in the number of students earning high school and college credits simultaneously. 

Each learner earns three high school credits and nine college credits through ACE credit recommendations, which are tangible credentials that open doors to both higher education and career opportunities. 

The program also resonates with and is helping to enhance the school’s culture. Student engagement in standardized testing continues to grow, this year hitting a milestone 98% participation rate, contributing to the school receiving the highest possible state accountability rating of “Commendable.”

“We’re seeing a complete transformation in how students view themselves and their school work,” Jones explains. “They’re proud to tell people they’re taking courses from top universities and earning Google certifications. They’re proud that we’re the only high school offering this opportunity, and that pride is contagious.”

This heightened sense of possibility has attracted more students wanting to grow their skill set, with many graduating early. Jones notes, “When students see their classmates succeeding with university-level coursework and earning Professional Certificates through Coursera, it raises the bar for everyone.”

Students are now preparing resumes that showcase their industry certifications alongside their practical experience for a combination that positions them strongly for immediate career opportunities.

North Gardens High School Principal Dr. Laura Vesga notes:

It’s not just workforce development. It’s getting students to understand that these credentials give them an edge while also showing them they’re capable of college-level work if they choose that path.

Looking Ahead

Building on their success, North Gardens High School is expanding its Coursera-based programs to include new entrepreneurship and artificial intelligence (AI) specializations. The school recently secured grant funding to roll out the program to other schools in Miami-Dade County starting in January 2025. 

“This model couldn’t align more perfectly with our core values,” explains Drew Hill, VP of Marketing and Enrollment at Second Mile Education, which manages North Gardens and 23 other schools. “We are committed to meeting students on their terms and believing in them until they believe in themselves. This program, and our partnership with Coursera, embodies that philosophy.”

Future plans include:

• Launching specialized entrepreneurship tracks for music business and fashion

• Expanding AI curriculum to teach ethical usage and prompt engineering

• Developing formal resume-building workshops to help students showcase their certifications

• Rolling out the program model to other alternative schools in the region

Through their innovative use of Coursera’s platform and content, North Gardens High School is charting new pathways to both academic achievement and success beyond the classroom, creating a model that could open doors for students across the country.

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