|
Policy Framework
Career Academies were first developed some 35 years ago with the aim of restructuring large high schools into small learning communities and creating pathways between high school and further education and the workplace. Since then, the Career Academy approach has taken root in an estimated 2,500 high schools across the country. The proliferation of Career Academies, along with their continuing relevance to high school reform policy initiatives currently unfolding at the federal, state, and local levels, has fueled the need for reliable evidence about how the approach affects high school performance and the transition to further education and careers.
Operating as schools within schools and typically enrolling 30-60 students per grade, Career Academies are organized around such themes as health, business and finance, computer technology, and the like. Academy students take classes together, remain with the same group of teachers over time, follow a curriculum that includes both academic and career-oriented courses, and participate in work internships and other career-related experiences outside the classroom. Over time, improving the rigor of academic and career-related curricula has become an increasingly prominent part of the Career Academies agenda.
Agenda, Scope, and Goals
Since 1993, MDRC has been conducting a rigorous evaluation of the Career Academy approach. The evaluation addresses the following key questions:
- How have the main features of Career Academies been implemented and sustained, and how are Academies distinctive from other opportunities available to students in their host high schools?
- How do Academies affect student engagement and performance during high school and what effect do they have on high school completion rates, access to college, and completion of postsecondary degrees?
- How do Academies affect transitions to and progression in the labor market as reflected in outcomes such as employment rates, earnings, and career advancement?
Design, Sites, and Data Sources
The Career Academies Evaluation is one of the few studies of a high school reform initiative that uses the design of a randomized, controlled field trial. Because more students applied for the Academy programs than could be served, applicants were randomly selected to enroll in the programs (the Academy group). The remaining students constitute the study’s non-Academy control group. Subsequent differences in outcomes between the two groups provide valid estimates of the Academies’ impacts. This type of research design is widely considered to be the most reliable way to measure the effectiveness of interventions such as Career Academies.
The Career Academies Evaluation has been following over 1,400 young people since their ninth-grade year in high school. These young men and women come from a diverse group of nine high schools across the United States that confront many of the educational challenges found in low-income urban settings. The participating Career Academies were able to implement and sustain the core features of the approach, and they served a cross-section of the student populations in their host schools. The nine participating Career Academies and their host high schools are located in the following cities:
- Baltimore, Maryland
- Miami Beach, Florida
- Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
- San Jose, California (two schools)
- Santa Ana, California
- Socorro, Texas
- Washington, DC
- Watsonville, California
The data sources examined in the evaluation include surveys of students, former students, and teachers; on-site observational research; student transcripts; school administrative records; and standardized tests.
What's Next
Findings from the study provide compelling evidence that the Academies produced substantial and sustained improvements in the post-high school labor market outcomes of youth. In fact, Career Academies are one of the few interventions that have been found to improve the workplace prospects of young men. Students in the Academy and control groups were equally likely to graduate from high school and to achieve postsecondary education credentials. The results indicate that there is a clear value in investing in career-related experiences during high school.
|
|
