Secondary schools have the responsibility of producing graduates who are college and career ready. This requirement causes schools to focus on all populations, including those who are at-risk of disengaging in learning and dropping out of school. For years, schools have implemented various reform models to address the needs of at-risk student populations to try to engage and empower them not only to graduate, but also to graduate college and be career ready. Career academies are reform models that have provided evidence of engaging at-risk student populations and preparing them to enter society as productive citizens. Research has found that at-risk students who have participated in career academies have improved their academic performance, increased their attendance rates, lowered their dropout rates, and increases their grade point averages. However, questions remain over the effects of participation in career academies on the academic achievement in reading and math of at-risk populations as compared to their counterparts who do not participate in any career academy. To address these questions a nonexperimental descriptive comparative study took place using a t test for independent samples to compare the mean scores on end-of-year math and reading exams of 100 at-risk 10th-grade students, 50 of whom participated in career academies and 50 of whom did not. Data analysis revealed a difference in the academic performance of the two groups, with 10th-grade academy students demonstrating higher academic achievement in both reading and math; however, the difference was not statistically significant. Further study is necessary to determine whether the trend of higher academic achievement continues for career academy students as compared to non-academy students and whether the trend widens the gap to statistical significance. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]