Career Academies

Career Academies is a dropout prevention program for high school students (grades 9-12) at risk of dropping out. The program uses a school-within-a-school structure where students take both career-related and academic courses organized around career themes (such as health care, finance, technology, communications, and public service) and acquire work experience through partnerships with local employers. Students are clustered in small learning communities of 50-75 students per grade with 3-5 teachers who remain with them year to year. Students take 2-4 academy courses per year (typically in block-scheduled morning classes) and other courses in the regular high school. The program integrates rigorous academic curricula with career themes, provides work-based learning opportunities, and functions as a community of support with personalized attention from teachers and encouragement of parent involvement. Teachers come from academic and vocational disciplines and receive professional development focusing on student concerns and coordinating career development activities. Schools must have implemented the Career Academies framework for at least 2 years before full implementation.