The Accelerate Online/OPTIONS alternative certification program provides those possessing a degree an option leading to certification that can be completed in 18 months. The program consists of an online curriculum, an early field experience, and a year-long paid internship. To determine program effectiveness across five years, five benchmark…

Some of the recent and relevant evidence supporting Linked Learning comes from the substantial amount of data available on California Partnership Academies. These Academies, which have operated in the state for more than two decades, are one of the most well developed models using the Linked Learning approach. A March 2007 study conducted…

Quint reports on a synthesis evaluation of three widely used high school reform models--Talent Development, First Things First, and career academies. She highlights approaches within each model that helped high schools restructure themselves in ways that affected student outcomes, particularly for struggling 9th graders and students from…

The unprecedented extent of privatisation of provision in the school system on a for-profit basis is clearly one of the most significant transformations accomplished by the Blair government. However, another aspect of private sector involvement has proved much more problematic: the direct involvement of employers in the formation of the future…

Today's career and tech programs blur the lines between college and career prep, undoing traditional high school tracking. The technology used in jobs now requires higher-level skills of those responsible for the work than ever before, and due to this fact and to changes in the way these programs are implemented, enrollment in the area of career…

Describes the Chicago High School for the Agricultural Sciences, one of the U.S. Department of Education's 10 "New American High Schools," that graduates 93% of its students, all of whom take a rigorous college-prep curriculum tied to agricultural careers. (JOW)

Describes the program at Marriott Hospitality Public Charter High School in Washington, DC, the nation's only high school devoted to the hospitality industry. A career academy, the school provides mentoring and real-world work experiences in collaboration with industry professional associations. (JOW)

The career academy experience challenges the assumptions of traditional high school about the role of schooling for students career and college transitions and stresses contextual and integrated teaching. This alternative educational approach encourages teachers to focus more collectively on preparing students through their curriculum,…

The purpose of this study was to examine and compare the perceptions of undergraduate and graduate students of a selected state university in Texas attending the Multi Institutional Teaching Center (MITC)/The University Center (TUC) or the main campus regarding the effectiveness of student services. As universities face limited resources and…

The Smaller Learning Communities (SLC) program was established in response to growing national concerns about students too often lost and alienated in large, impersonal high schools, as well as concerns about school safety and low levels of achievement and graduation for many students. Authorized under the "Elementary and Secondary Education…

The small-schools movement has revolutionized educational concepts, design and construction. By reconfiguring large high schools into smaller learning academies, districts believe they can educate students more effectively. However, planners face numerous challenges in creating or renovating small schools, especially in urban environments where…

Report on symposium by four school psychology leaders (Irwin Hyman, Jack I. Bardon, Douglas T. Brown, Margaret Dawson) who offer perspectives on the future plus review predictions made in 1978. Hyman reports on issues of role and function; Barton discusses how doctoral-level practice played out; Brown reviews importance of competency-based…

This newsletter includes vignettes about schools that are effectively integrating academic and career/technical (CT) studies to help more students find meaning in their learning and to motivate students to make great effort to achieve. This is part of a series of newsletters describing best practices for implementing the "High Schools That Work"…

Quality career/technical education and its role in school improvement was a primary theme of the 2008 "High Schools That Work" ("HSTW") Staff Development Conference. This newsletter covers crucial topics in quality CTE (career and technical education), including assessing the quality and effectiveness of CT programs, preparing students to succeed…

The director of a small career academy of the arts in a public high school reflects on the conflicting demands to establish a college-preparatory program adhering to state standards and to facilitate the personal growth, artistic discovery, and democratic empowerment of teens. By narrating experiences that go to the heart of philosophical discord,…