| Overview: | | | | Students who immediately go to work are more |
| To address the high school drop out rate and | | | | readily to receive company policy and any |
| improve the number of students graduating from | | | | additional training that the company supplies. |
| high school, educators, policymakers and | | | | Now let's discuss the cons of career academies. |
| community business leaders are supporting the | | | | There are three major cons to career academies. |
| strategy of career academies in high schools. | | | | One is that they are more expensive to establish |
| Career academies are not the latest fad; they | | | | and implement. The second is that they are |
| have been around for at least forty years. Career | | | | difficult to schedule, and lastly, they require |
| academy experts know what works and what | | | | partnerships between education and the |
| doesn't. The Career Academy Toolkit is a book | | | | community. |
| that describes the process of creating and | | | | Cons of Career Academies: |
| establishing a career academy in great detail. | | | | 1. More expensive to establish and implement: |
| So what are the pros and cons of these career | | | | Because academies include a "real world" theme |
| academies? Pros for career academies are that | | | | with community partners, this application of the |
| students have improved high school attendance, | | | | learning process requires more money for student |
| additional earned credits, higher grade point | | | | field trips and internships, plus monies to pay for |
| averages and graduation rates, and are more | | | | teacher externships. Additional resources does not |
| career and college ready. Cons include that career | | | | end there, funding is needed to pay for teacher |
| academies are more expensive to establish and | | | | time to collaborate in the curriculum development |
| implement, difficult to schedule, and require | | | | and time to collaborate with business partners and |
| partnerships between education and the | | | | post-secondary learning institutions. And, all of this |
| community. Let's discuss each of these pros and | | | | requires more professional development for the |
| cons in more detail. | | | | educators. True, careers academies are more |
| Pros of Career Academies: | | | | expensive to operate, but the ROI (Return on |
| 1. Improved High School Attendance: Because | | | | Investment) is worth it (i.e. additional revenues |
| students elect to be in an academy, they are | | | | from improved student attendance). |
| more apt to attend school. The more students | | | | 2. Difficult to schedule: Due to the curriculum |
| stay in class, the more they are motivated to | | | | integration, the student field trips and internships, |
| learn. The more motivated students are, they | | | | teaching teaming activities, career academies are |
| more they are engaged in learning. The more | | | | a nightmare to schedule. However, many career |
| engaged students are, the more they learn. This, | | | | academies have overcome this obstacle and are |
| them, becomes a circle: the more they learn, the | | | | willing to assist high schools who have decided to |
| more they are motivated to learn more. | | | | establish academies. Additional resources include |
| Motivation is one of the major keys to the | | | | career academy consultants who are experts in |
| success of academies. Academies do several | | | | this field and will help schools for a fee. Because |
| motivation strategies, such as integration of the | | | | these experts save both time and money, they |
| curriculum between both academic and technical | | | | should be considered as a viable option. |
| courses. Now students not only learn the | | | | 3. Partnerships between education and the |
| knowledge, but they have the opportunity to | | | | community: This is the trickiest of the three cons |
| apply it. We, at Bright Futures Press, call this | | | | of career academies. Business and education |
| "Sticky Learning." Because academies have | | | | speak different languages and there needs to be |
| partnerships between the academy and the | | | | someone who can translate what each is saying. |
| community, students can then go into the "real | | | | These partnerships require both a igniting and |
| world" to see how their learning truly fits there. | | | | nurturing process. Establishing the partnership is |
| This is exciting for students and reinforces the | | | | more difficult that it seems. Most schools go for |
| classroom learning. | | | | the "affair" over the "marriage." They tend to ask |
| 2. Additional Earned Credits: Based on pro number | | | | for money (short-range goal) rather that the |
| one, students who stay in school tend to earn | | | | value the business can bring to the relationship like |
| more high school credits and the more high school | | | | mentors, real-world site learning, etc., which is the |
| credits students earn; the more they are apt to | | | | "marriage." Once the partnership has started, |
| graduate. | | | | teachers need time to keep the relationship |
| 3. Higher Grade Point Averages: This brings us to | | | | progressing, and time is something that more |
| pro number three. Students need credits to | | | | schools are not willing to pay for. The school that |
| graduate and students who stay in school earn | | | | thinks the teacher will stop and visit the business |
| the credits to graduate. Students on the path to | | | | on the way home from school (on the teacher's |
| graduation have more self esteem and have | | | | own dime) is dooming the education/business |
| improved motivation to learn more, which | | | | relationship to failure. |
| increases their grade point averages. Students | | | | Conclusion: |
| who graduate from high school are generally | | | | Career academies work! They require more time |
| encouraged to attend college or post-secondary | | | | and resources in order to be successful, but they |
| learning. | | | | are well worth the effort. They are a time-tested |
| 4. More Career and College Ready: Students that | | | | strategy that results in more students who |
| feel they are college ready make an effort to | | | | graduate on time ready both/or for a career or |
| attend college or receive post-secondary learning. | | | | college. |
