Georgia: College and career academies

A number of states, including Georgia, have "career academies", high schools that offer specialized instruction in one or more career/technical education (CTE) fields, after which students may continue technical training or go directly into the workforce. Until now, career academies in the Peach State were charter schools developed via partnerships between one or more districts and a technical school. 2011 S.B. 161 replaces these with "college and career academies"--programs with a clearer connection to both postsecondary education and business/industry and communities to enhance workforce development.

According to the legislation, college and career academies in Georgia are still charter schools, but may come about through a more varied set of stakeholders--through a partnership "between one or more local boards of education, a private individual, a private organization, or a state or local public entity in cooperation with one or more postsecondary institutions" (not just two-year schools). S.B. 161 legislatively establishes the Office of College and Career Transitions in the Technical College System of Georgia to coordinate between the state board of education, the University System of Georgia, the Technical College System of Georgia and accredited not-for-profit postsecondary institutions in the professional development, curriculum support, and development and establishment of college and career academies.

The bill directs the the Office of College and Career Transitions to develop a college and career academy certification process. The certification applicant (i.e., academy) must demonstrate how the proposed college and career academy "will increase student achievement, provide for dual credit and dual enrollment opportunities, increase work based learning opportunities, and address workforce development needs; articulates how the collaboration between business, industry, and community stakeholders will advance workforce development; demonstrates local governance and autonomy; and shows other benefits that meet the needs of the students and community."

The measure also calls for reporting and data analysis--programs must annually provide, among other components, "an evaluation of the progress relative to relationships between and among the business, industry, and community stakeholders, and any other information requested by the board to demonstrate the yearly progress or effectiveness of the college and career academy." The Office of College and Career Transitions is charged with evaluating program data related to program effectiveness. (It will be interesting to see what level of data are reported, and how they will be used to improve programs--and what implications these data have for replication of this model in other states.)

While I'm not sure why the sponsor encouraged the switch from "career academies" to "college and career academies", the legislation seems to hold several potential benefits:

• Clearer involvement of the business and local community leaders in the development of their future workforce
• Clearer focus on "increasing student achievement" as one of the goals of college and career academies
• Integration of dual enrollment opportunities into career education.