CASE STUDY

Tech Valley High School

Entity Type: Regional Public High School
Region: Albany, NY
Grades: 9-12
Number of Students: 150

The Goal

To prepare high school seniors for the workforce by applying their skills in authentic, professional contexts through deep community partnerships.

Community-Connected Learning

Tech Valley High School (TVHS) partners with local businesses and the State University of New York, University at Albany to ensure students engage in meaningful, real-world problem solving. By working directly with local businesses, students gain authentic experience solving real challenges that business partners propose, while business partners gain valuable insight into how the up and coming workforce thinks and solves problems.

Workforce & College Readiness

Through structured collaboration, research, and public presentations, students demonstrate proficiency in written and oral communication, critical thinking and professional competencies aligned with New York State’s Portrait of a Graduate. Students also build meaningful connections with local businesses as the companies invest in the future workforce, with the hope the young adults will return after college to live and work in the region.

Assessment Leading into Real World Application

Through project-based learning, TVHS helps students identify, develop, and clearly articulate their strengths, preparing them to enter college, career, and civic life with confidence.

“I like how [Innovative Solutions Project] takes what we learned in our four years and puts it into a real test with real business partners.”

- Griffin Hall, Tech Valley HS Senior

The Work

The Innovative Solutions Project

As a senior capstone experience, the Innovative Solutions Project pairs students with local businesses who present student groups with an authentic problem to solve. Seniors work in teams to analyze the problem, conduct research, and present solutions to their business partners. Ultimately, Innovative Solutions is a final showcase of the essential skills students have learned during their time at TVHS.

Research & Professional Collaboration

Students engage in weekly communication and collaboration with business partners and are supported by UAlbany faculty to strengthen their research skills and processes. The project requires professional writing, formal presentations, and iterative feedback cycles from their business partners which mirrors authentic consulting work. TVHS Seniors also demonstrate professional oral communication skills by planning for and facilitating meetings with their assigned businesses.

Scaffolded Skill Development

With three years of project-based learning to draw upon, The Innovative Solutions Project challenges seniors to apply their collaboration, communication, and critical thinking skills. It also precedes “I-Term” each February, when regular coursework pauses and seniors take part in a career exploration project. The goal of seniors in I-Term is to gain hands-on experience in a field of the students choice. Building on the same skills used in Innovative Solutions, students create an artifact that is evidence of the individual student’s learning.

Real-World Problem Solvers.
Confident Communicators.
Career-Ready Graduates.

Students at Tech Valley High School graduate with Regents or Advanced Regents diplomas, along with demonstrated proficiency in skills that align with the NYS Portrait of a Graduate.

Example 1: Money Moves - Reimagining Investment Banking for Young Adults

A local Wells Fargo branch challenged students to explore how the complex world of investment banking could be made more engaging and accessible for young adults. Student teams are asked to investigate the fundamentals of investment banking and develop creative concepts that bring financial strategy to life for teens. The goal is to design an idea such as an interactive experience, digital simulation, or storytelling approach that builds financial literacy while making finance feel relevant and engaging for younger audiences.

Example 2: Expanding Global Engagement in Health Sciences

The Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences asked students to help identify ways to increase both local and global engagement with the college’s research and consulting services. Student teams are tasked to attract new partners and customers for services such as contract research, sample analysis, consulting, and workforce development workshops. The challenge also includes identifying opportunities to strengthen the college’s digital outreach and social media presence.

Example 3: Reimagining a Historic Trading Game for Older Students

Historic Cherry Hill challenged students to reimagine its Hudson River Trading Game, an interactive program where participants role-play as a crew trading goods along the Hudson River. While the program has traditionally been designed for 4th and 5th grade audiences, the museum is seeking ideas for how the experience could be adapted for middle and high school students.

“Coming to these presentations and hearing what our business partners are saying and not just the partners getting the solutions. It’s the other partners that you see taking notes and understanding that, ‘I could use that in my business as well’. It’s an amazing community of shared ideas and experiences for everybody.”

– Jennifer Muirhead,
Business Liaison, Tech Valley HS

Empowered Educators

Tech Valley High School teachers are given the freedom and respect to write their own curriculum based on NY State standards.

Teachers are empowered to create truly authentic projects that engage students in ways that are meaningful and memorable.

Engaged Students

Seniors give over 100 presentations in their time at Tech Valley.

Students regularly self-reflect and receive feedback on the schools Learning Outcomes: Knowing and Thinking, Communication, Collaboration, Info/Tech Literacy and Agency.

"I really value the students' feedback on our current projects, their point of view as teens as we approach doing more work for a teen audience and the conversations we had in the meetings provide great inter-generational dialogue for different staff and leadership from WMHT that can attend."

- Catherine Rafferty, Business Partner, WMHT (local PBS station)

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