An independent high school in Jersey City, N.J., has earned global recognition for its innovative approach to education.
Franklin School, now in its third year, was named one of the “Top 10 Schools for Innovation” worldwide by T4 Education, becoming a finalist in the 2025 World’s Best School Prizes.
Franklin is the only North American school to be recognized in the innovation category, standing alongside finalists from countries including Chile, India, Italy, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, the UAE, the U.K., and Sweden. The prizes, awarded in five categories — Community Collaboration, Environmental Action, Innovation, Overcoming Adversity, and Supporting Healthy Lives — celebrate schools that are reimagining education for the future.
“T4’s recognition validates the model Franklin has been building and honing since before we even opened our doors,” said Franklin School Director of Innovation Jaymes Dec. “Our curriculum is grounded in design, systems, and preparing students for the future. A Franklin education is not just about what our students learn, but how they take that knowledge and make an impact wherever their lives take them.”
Innovation at Franklin is more than a course — it’s a schoolwide ethos. On any given day, students might be pitching a startup, building assistive technology, or training an AI model. The school’s in-house chatbot, Sparkz, offers real-time feedback on student ideas in the style of “Shark Tank,” helping them refine pitches and deepen critical thinking.
At the heart of the school is its Fab Lab, where students integrate math, English, and science into long-term, real-world design projects. Here, they learn to code, build prototypes, design robots, and train machine learning models — all while collaborating, solving complex problems, and leading with empathy.
Students co-designed the learning model, emphasizing agency and passion-driven education. A strong academic support system ensures that emotional and academic development go hand in hand.
Franklin School is part of the global Dwight network, offering students access to international competitions and collaboration opportunities. The annual Sparkathon, a 48-hour global hackathon, unites learners across the Dwight network, and Franklin teams recently won with projects including a “reverse-vending” machine that incentivizes beach cleanups and an AI model detecting irregular heartbeats by sound.
Its campus includes state-of-the-art facilities and programs like Franklin Student Ventures and bespoke internships, which allow students to turn innovation into action. From APs to micro-classes taught by industry leaders, the school blends academic rigor with real-world challenges in fields like robotics, AI, and entrepreneurship.
“It is in schools like Franklin School where we find the innovations and expertise that give us hope for a better future,” said T4 Education Founder Vikas Pota. “Leaders and schools around the world have so much to learn from this inspirational Jersey City institution.”
The winners of the World’s Best School Prizes will be announced in October. Until then, all 50 finalists — 10 for each category — are eligible to win the Community Choice Award, and voting is open to the public through July 9.
“We set out to build a school where students develop an insatiable love of learning and our faculty cultivates a culture of curiosity and challenge,” said William Campbell, Franklin’s Founding Head of School. “This acknowledgement by a global organization reflects the creativity, passion, and groundbreaking work happening across every subject in our school.”
