Henrico schools expand team-based “Next Education Workforce” models in elementary and high schools

Thomas Ferrell, Henrico County Public Schools’ director of high school education, told the school board on Feb. 12 that the division is expanding ‘‘Next Education Workforce’’ models that organize teachers into teams with distributed expertise to boost deeper and personalized learning.

‘‘Our priorities to reimagine the school experience and broaden deeper and personalized learning are essential because our students must be prepared for a rapidly changing world,’’ Ferrell said. The models, Ferrell said, are designed to align with the division’s Journey to 2030 strategic plan and the Henrico learner profile.

Scott Thorpe, director of elementary education, described how participating elementary schools assign teachers to content-area teams so students rotate to small-group instruction matched to skill needs. ‘‘At our school, we have been excited to implement the Next Education Workforce for the past two and a half years,’’ said Tonya Holmes, principal of Harvey Elementary School, describing daily ‘‘walk to what they need’’ times that let students move into small groups for remediation, practice or enrichment.

Thorpe named Harvey and Colonial Trail as schools that expanded models to more grade levels and listed Carver, Maud Trevet, Mayberry and Shady Grove as participating sites. At the high school level, Dr. Taylor Snow said Godwin, Tucker and Highland Springs are piloting cohorted ninth-grade teams that share roughly 85–100 students, using World History I and Algebra I as ‘‘anchor’’ courses and embedding interdisciplinary coursework.

Godwin High School principal Lee Donovan highlighted a partnership with the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. Donovan said Godwin’s freshman project-based sequence connected health and PE, Algebra I and English 9 with career planning and opportunities at the ACE Center in Hermitage.

Presenters said the division will measure impact through a mix of student work and project review, academic indicators (grades and assessments), student engagement metrics (attendance and participation), and teacher-satisfaction surveys. Ferrell said the goal is to ‘‘examine student work, projects, and reflection to assess growth in durable skills aligned to the Henrico learner profile.’’

Board members praised the presentations and asked about implementation logistics. Mrs. Atkins asked whether transition supports to high school were coordinated with middle schools; Ferrell said counseling teams and intervention structures are used ‘‘to determine what individualized supports those students might need.’’ Board members also raised scheduling concerns for electives at the secondary level; Donovan acknowledged master scheduling is ‘‘a puzzle’’ but said smaller cohort sizes have helped and some schedule shifts (for example band or technology class timing) were necessary.

Officials described a phased expansion: additional high schools (Freeman, Hermitage and Varina) will receive training in February 2026 to prepare for a 2026–27 launch, with other schools to follow in subsequent years. Presenters said teacher training and coaching, as well as school-led showcases, will support scaling.

The board did not take a vote on policy changes during the session and asked staff to continue monitoring implementation, share outcome measures and provide periodic updates.