Career Academies In Wake County
What we do in the classroom must be relevant to the "real world." Career academies are one way to bring relevance to the classroom. Studies have shown that smaller learning communities, such as career academies, can mitigate the impersonal nature of the large, comprehensive high school.
Career academies "personalize" the experience for our students by giving them a cohort group of students they can stay with for several years, helping each other get through high school. This personalization helps keep the students engaged in school and keeps them from dropping out.
WCPSS Requirements
In the Wake County Public School System, a career academy has the following six characteristics:
Career Theme
The career theme focuses the academy on one career area.
Integrated Curriculum and Studies
The career theme must be integrated into the student's studies including their core curriculum courses.
Internships
Each academy student is required to do an internship that relates to the academy theme. The internship will be for a minimum of 90 hours, with a preference for a full 180-hour internship.
Cohort Model
The academy students take classes as a cohort group. Each year the same group of academy students takes a CTE course that is aligned with their career theme, and they also take a core class together.
Heterogeneous Student Population
Advisory Board
The career academies have a partnership with the community through their academy advisory board. This advisory board is comprised of business volunteers and representatives from postsecondary education.
Getting Small, Getting Ready - a draft white paper on academies in Wake County Public Schools. (Microsoft Word 152K) This is the latest information about career academies and similar small learning communities in Wake County.
Career Academies in Wake County
Web Links
Wake County Career Academy websites can be found on the High School Web Site page
The National Career Academy Coalition creates and supports a national network of existing and emerging high school career academies. They engage administrators, teachers, students, business, government & community partners, and families in an ongoing dialogue and provide services to help meet the needs of academies.
Career Academy information from the US Department of Education.
Career Academy Support Network (CASN) offers comprehensive support and staff development for Small Learning Communities and Career Academies at which students can fulfill requirements for college entrance while learning to relate their academics to the world outside high school.
National Academy Foundation. partnerships for America's Youth
National Centers for Career and Technical Education
The Career Academy Concept (PDF) - US Department of Justice Fact Sheet, May 2001.
The National High School Alliance
Chris Droessler
School to Career
Wake County Public School System programs are staffed and offered without regard to race, gender, age, color, religion, national origin, citizenship status, political affiliation, or disability.