PPHS is showing what it means to change the high school experience to meet the needs of today’s students through smart use of time, space, and tech. Instead of a traditional single-subject schedule, every eight weeks students choose their learning pathways while working on authentic single-disciplinary and interdisciplinary projects with local and regional industry partners. PPHS learning opportunities have connected students with companies like Subaru, Eli Lilly, Republic Airlines, United Way, the Indianapolis Star, and Eskenazi Health.

PPHS student projects tackle sustainability, public transportation, and conservation challenges. Through a blend of technology and design thinking, projects teach students how to research problems, design solutions, collaborate with peers, create prototypes, and pitch their ideas. For example, students met with public transportation officials to develop solutions to serve the community better using what they learned about the history and impacts of population density, interstate construction, and redlining practices. Students also take classes and earn dual enrollment credits at Purdue University and other local colleges. 

Class of 2022 graduate Victor said he was always intrigued by aviation but discovered a new interest in finance through two passion projects: Money Moves and Modern Segregation. “I learned how school finance works, how tax dollars flow through schools to help us succeed and learn,” he explained. 
More than 900 students attend the three PPHS charter high school campuses, two in Indianapolis and one in South Bend. The PPHS schools have been so successful that they’ve more than doubled the average number of public school graduates from Indianapolis who enroll at Purdue University each fall.

Student Outcomes

The 2022 graduation rate was 86.5 percent for PPHS Englewood (PPHS North opened in 2019, and PPHS Southbend opened in 2020). This rate compares to 2022 graduation rates of 79.9 percent for the Indianapolis Public Schools, 89.4 percent statewide in district schools, and 47.7 percent for charter schools in Indiana.

Among the PPHS class of 2022, 39 students gained admission to Purdue University, and 34 enrolled, most of whom were students of color. That’s more than twice the average number of Indianapolis high school graduates who enrolled at the university between 2016 to 2020 (15 a year) before PPHS graduated its first group of students in 2021.

PPHS class of 2022 students overwhelmingly outperformed students across Indianapolis high schools on the state tests given to 11th graders in 2021. PPHS students were four times as likely to pass both the math and English sections of the test as students in IPS (34 versus 8 percent). Black students, Latino students, and students from low-income families at PPHS all had passing rates about four times as large as the rates for those groups across IPS. 

Nearly one in three PPHS graduates (31 percent) earned college credits while still in high school, either during their summer studies at Purdue University or from other institutions.