Career-tied learning on rise

Grants bolster schools’ focus on job-centered education

A national push toward preparation for college and careers continues to interest school administrators across the state in a career academy model that ties academics to subjects that most interest students.

"When you're dealing with students not being engaged in school, you start searching for ways to bring relevance into their school life," said Brigitte Shipman, career academy coordinator for Mountain Home High School, which has an enrollment of 1,190 students. "The career academy concept, it really helps students understand what they're doing and why they're doing it."

During the past three years, the Arkansas Department of Career Education has awarded about $800,000 to help high schools implement career academies, department spokesman Deborah Germany said. Three high schools -- Eureka Springs, Farmington and West Memphis -- received planning grants to explore the idea. Five high schools -- Har-Ber, Hope, J.A. Fair, Maumelle and Springdale -- received implementation grants.

Career academies create a school within a school, bringing together a group of students with an interest in a career field such as medicine, engineering or construction, Germany said.

"Everything they study relates to that career field," she said. "They get a network of support from teachers and business people. They get the opportunity to learn more about that career while they are in high school."

Interest in career academies continues as schools look for ways to raise attendance rates and graduation rates and to make school more relevant, said Jan Struebing, a former guidance counselor and career and technical education coordinator for Springdale School District who is on the board of the National Career Academy Coalition. Elective and core classes are linked to the career focus of the academy.

Students in a law enforcement academy might read In Cold Blood by Truman Capote in their English classes, Struebing said. The story focuses on the 1959 murders of a family in Kansas.

"You give kids that opportunity to really want to come to school," Struebing said.

'Wall-to-wall' model

The concept of a career academy developed in Pennsylvania in the 1960s, and Springdale High School piloted a "pocket academy" model in 1998, she said.

Mountain Home introduced a "wall-to-wall" model several years later that divided the entire high school campus into three career academies, said Shipman, the career academy coordinator. Mountain Home has received national attention because of the career academies, with CNBC featuring the school in a 2012 report.

Ninth-graders in Mountain Home take a "keystone" class that helps them discover their interests and how they learn best, Shipman said. Students choose an academy their sophomore year that they can remain in through their senior year. They have a chance to switch academies each school year, but few switch.

"Our students get the opportunity to find out what they like, but more importantly what they don't like," Shipman said. "They're way ahead of the game by the time they leave our high school."

Developing a career academy model requires the support of the faculty, community and students, Shipman said.

In Mountain Home, a business advisory board of 100 community members meets monthly with students and its members serve as mentors, Shipman said.

Mountain Home is among at least three high schools in the state with "wall-to-wall" career academies. Camden-Fairview and Jonesboro also have similar concepts.

Some high schools have discontinued career academies, especially after a change in school or district leadership, said Tim Johnston, who oversees career academies for the Department of Career Education.

One challenge is in providing the teachers of one academy with a common planning time for developing lessons that cross subjects, Johnston said.

Springdale School District is interested in the "wall-to-wall" concept, officials said.

"I think the interest is growing because our business community is realizing how it can also benefit them," said Kim Garrett, Springdale assistant superintendent for teaching and learning for grades eight through 12. "We have students who are going away to college but then are coming back and going to work locally."

Aided by grants

Federal and state grants are assisting Springdale School District in expanding career academies at Springdale High School, Garrett said. A federal Race to the Top grant from the U.S. Department of Education included some funding for the district to add a new academy at Springdale High School, with 2,240 students, and to start a career academy at Har-Ber High School, with 1,800 students.

A $40,000 grant from the Department of Career Education is helping the district to investigate how to divide students at both high schools into smaller learning communities, Garrett said. Those communities would accommodate students who want to explore a career field, as well as those who are interested in a more in-depth study of a career.

Springdale High School began with a career academy for students interested in medicine, but has since added academies focused on law enforcement, engineering and architecture, and information technology, Principal Pete Joenks said.

The next academy will focus on agriculture and food science, Joenks said.

Joenks is interested in moving in the direction of a "wall-to-wall" concept to spread the best parts of the career academies to all students, he said.

"If you can reach that magic where they understand the relevance to them, you don't have to do a lot to motivate them," Joenks said. "They see the light at the end of the tunnel."

Relevant curriculum

Smaller schools also have taken an interest in career academies.

Huntsville High School Principal Ken Harriman is in preliminary discussions with his faculty to see if the model would be a good fit, he said. He hopes to identify schools for his faculty to visit that have career academies that could fit the high school of 630 students.

About half of the students graduating Huntsville High School do not continue their educations, he said. He is interested in career academies as a way to equip graduates with skills that would make them more competitive when they apply for jobs after high school.

"This allows us an opportunity to partner better with the businesses in our community and get their input in what are they looking for," Harriman said.

Eureka Springs has an interest in the concept and is mulling career academies for its 210-student high school, Superintendent David Kellogg said. Possible focuses could be science and math, hospitality, or the arts. Kellogg said a state grant of $15,000 will allow teachers to attend training sessions on career academies.

Career academies fit with the national push for college and career preparation and help students understand how academic subjects apply to life out of school, he said.

The concept goes back to what Kellogg heard from a professor while in graduate school in 1978 about making the curriculum relevant.

"The more relevant you make schoolwork, the harder kids are going to work," Kellogg said. "The career academy is a great example."

NW News on 05/26/2014

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