Career Academies

New Research on College and Career Academies in California

Career academies are a widely replicated and well-researched model for college and career preparation in high schools. The UC Berkeley College & Career Academy Support Network (CCASN) has just published a longitudinal description of students enrolled in state-funded career academies in California, also known as California Partnership Academies (CPA). Among the key findings of the new report:

The Future of Career and College Pathways

In June 2013, the National Center for College and Career Transitions (NC3T) surveyed Career Technical Education (CTE) and Career Academy practitioners at the school, district, and state levels to learn about the state of pathways programs: Where they were, where they had been, and where they were headed. In August, NC3T published the results of that survey, which show regular organic growth over the past few years, with growth forecasted for the future, despite little support in the policy arena.

Some notable findings from the report:

The Use of Individualized Learning Plans to Help Students to be College and Career Ready

On February 15, 2013, the American Youth Policy Forum (AYPF) partnered with the Institute for Educational Leadership’s Center for Workforce Development to present a Capitol Hill Forum on “The Use of Individualized Learning Plans to Help Students to be College and Career Ready”.

Local Spotlight: Mountain Home High School Career Academies

Mountain Home High School Career Academies was created in 2003 when the Mountain Home Public Schools in Mountain Home, Arkansas, decided to convert its only high school into a career academy. With approval of the Arkansas State Board of Education and the Arkansas Department of Education, the district moved forward with its plan to create the wall-to-wall career academy.

High School Rigor: Not Just About Taking Advanced Courses

We have some good news and some bad news.

The good news: The recently released U.S. Department of Education NAEP high school transcript study noted that the number of advanced courses (Advanced Placement (AP), International Baccalaureate, etc.) students take in high school has tripled over the past two decades.