Frequently Asked Questions
What is a Career Academy?
High school career academies prepare students for careers and college by tailoring academics around a specific field in a small learning community where students take classes together. Health academies focus on preparing students for health careers by providing a broad based academic curriculum centered on health career preparation and tying courses to real-life health practice. There are several different health academy program types that exist.
- Industry-Focused Academic Courses focus on one industry and combine academic learning with real-world relevance. Courses are University of California approved and follow California state curriculum standards.
- Career Technical Education Pathways provide students with the knowledge and skills to pursue careers and/or higher education in a certain field. Courses are a sequence of Career Technical Education (CTE) courses based around a certain industry sector, with the sequence of courses lasting at least two years or more than 300 hours.
- Integrated Academic/Career Technical Education Pathway combine Career Technical Education and Industry-Focused Academic Courses that connect academic learning and real-world experience.
- Career Academies offer a small learning community where students take classes together based around a career theme that prepares students for college and shows students the relationships between academic subjects and future careers. Academies have partnerships with area employers, colleges, and the community that allow them to offer real-life experiences to students, and bring instructional resources into the school. Not only do academies provide a broad, college-preparatory curriculum, they connect academics with future career options and train students in specific careers.
- School-Within-A-School is another type of program where smaller schools reside within a larger high school and are organized around one career type.The school is separate, with its own decision making power and students and faculty choose which school to attend.
Download an extended description of these of programs
What is teaching like in a Career Academy?
Teachers in an academy work together
as a team to provide cross-curricular learning opportunities and special
activities related to the academic focus of the academy. The smaller learning community encourages closer
teacher-student and teacher-parent relationships. Often teachers will
take on additional responsibilities such as parent engagement or coordinating
outside opportunities. The CASN Planning Guide for Career Academies provides detailed information on the roles of administrators and teachers in an
academy.
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How do students benefit from Career Academies?
An evaluation of Career Academies by
MDRC (Career Academies: Long-Term Impacts on Labor Market Outcomes, Educational Attainment, and Transitions to Adulthood) showed that students attending an academy had higher earnings over time,
especially among young men. Students attending an academy were equally as
likely to complete high school or receive a GED and postsecondary education as
students attending a regular high school. In a study of high school students in an academy compared to high school
students in a regular school, those at high risk of dropping out that attended
the academy were less likely to drop-out, had better attendance, and earned
more credits.
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How can California state standards be taught in a Medical Career Academy or Pathway?
According to the California Career Technical Education Model Curriculum Standards: Grades Seven Through Twelve, adopted by the California State Board of Education May, 2005…
The California career technical education (CCTE) model curriculum standards are organized in 15 industry sectors, or groupings, of interrelated occupations and broad industries. Each sector has two or more career pathways. A career pathway is a coherent sequence of rigorous academic and technical courses that allows students to apply academics and develop technical skills in a curricular area. Career pathways prepare students for successful completion of state academic and technical standards and more advanced postsecondary course work related to the career in which they are interested.
The standards in the Health Science and Medical Technology sector represent the academic and technical skills and knowledge students need to pursue a full range of career opportunities in this sector, from entry level to management, including technical and professional career specialties. The standards tell what workers need to know and be able to do to contribute to the delivery of safe and effective health care.
The career pathways are grouped into functions that have a common purpose and require similar attributes. The career pathways are:
- Biotechnology Research and Development
- Diagnostic Services
- Health Informatics
- Support Services
- Therapeutic Services
Standards for each career path build on and continue the foundation standards with more complexity, rigor, and career specificity.
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What beginning Career Technical Education (CTE) courses can serve as the basis for developing your Medical Career Academy or Pathway?
The San Diego County Board of Education has already accepted specific curriculum related to the Health Science and Medical Technology fields. The San Diego County Regional Occupation Program's Course Catalog lists the current courses currently being taught in San Diego County. By contacting teachers that teach Medical Healthcare curriculum, you may be able to receive starting lesson plans for further development. Locate teachers by going to the course catalog and clicking the corresponding course title.
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What are some examples of career opportunties for graduating students of Medical Career Academy or Pathway programs?
Students who have completed Medical Career Academies may have the opportunity to apply skills learned directly into the workforce. Some examples of job opportunities may include: Medical Assisting, Emergency Medical Technician, Sports Medicine Assistant.
There are many healthcare professional organizations, foundations and societies that can assist teachers with matching up health professional certification and licensure requirements with curriculum taught in the classroom. Health Occupations Students of America (HOSA) has compiled the following list for review.
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