Franklin School, a four-year-old Jersey City independent high school, has been announced as the winner of the 2025 World’s Best School Prize for Innovation by T4 Education.
The prize is part of T4’s prestigious World’s Best School Prizes, which honor institutions across the world that are transforming education and changing lives beyond the classroom.
Franklin — which was the only North American institution shortlisted as a finalist in its category, the first school in the U.S. to receive the prize for Innovation and the first New Jersey school to receive a World’s Best School Prize — was recognized for its technology-driven, student co-designed learning model that prepares students to thrive in a rapidly shifting professional world.
At the heart of this model is the school’s state-of-the-art Fab Lab, a space that integrates technology and design across disciplines. Students are empowered to take ownership of their learning, build advanced skills and drive long-term, workforce-level projects that address pressing societal challenges.
“Being named the World’s Most Innovative School is more than just an award, it’s proof of what happens when visionary educators and fearless students co-create learning, harness breakthrough tools and reimagine education itself,” said Founding Head of School William Campbell. “Together, we are not just preparing students for the future, we are shaping it.”
Franklin’s model comes alive through bold, student-driven initiatives such as:
- Student-Run Micro Startups: Student teams design and launch ventures, from AI apps to sustainable products.
- Living Prototype Campus: Students use the school itself as a testbed, developing solutions such as human-centered learning models and curriculum synthesis opportunities.
- Global Venture Exchanges: Through the global network of Dwight Schools, students co-develop prototypes with peers abroad to address global-scale problems.
- Faculty Professional Development Continuum: Teachers dedicate 100 minutes each week in Franklin’s PD program to advanced pedagogy, sharpening their craft and inspiring students’ deep immersion in authentic, future-focused learning.
These initiatives reflect Franklin’s belief that students learn best when they are creators of knowledge, not just consumers, and that they are never too young to lead and problem-solve for their communities and the world.
Franklin also serves as an innovation hub for schools across the country as the leading North American Node of the Fab Lab Learning Academy (FLA). In this role, Franklin connects schools, educators and researchers into a powerful innovation network that transforms teaching and learning.
For example, Franklin hosts Teacher Innovation Residencies, where faculty from Franklin and surrounding schools are immersed in a Fab Learning Curriculum delivered by Jaymes Dec, Franklin’s director of innovation, in their Fab Lab facility.
