In these career-based academies, students have the opportunity
to choose one of 36 different academies, each serving as an
umbrella to a variety of pathways stretched across 12 schools.
Metro Nashville’s public schools are open enrollment, which
means that if a student is interested in an academy offered in
a school different than the one to which they were assigned,
they can transfer.
When a student reaches the ninth grade, he or she participates
in a college visit and a career exploration fair where they are
able to sample different academy opportunities. Several times
throughout the year, ninth grade students have the opportunity
to learn about each pathway offered in the high schools before
choosing one that will structure the rest of their high school
career. In 10th grade, students take a field trip to a business
in their selected industry. In 11th grade, students go on a one-
day job shadow with a professional in their prospective field.
As seniors, the students take on a capstone project in which
they complete a portfolio and a presentation. Seniors also do
an extended job shadow, logging at least 40 hours in service
learning throughout the year.
MNPS also aligns the academies to fill the needs of the
local community. The current academies offered are based on
high-skilled, high-wage, high-demand jobs that are available
in the region, ensuring the academies line up with the com-
munity’s needs. Metro Nashville’s model is organized through
three strands: striving to create innovative classroom practices,
making each school feel like a small learning community and
focusing on business and civic engagement.
According to Gilley, the most important aspect of this pro-
gram is to make each academy feel like a family for the students.
Rather than feeling lost in the shuffle of a large high school,
the academy model allows students to see the same people on
a consistent basis.
“They are with that group for three years, and they begin
to rely on them,” she says. “Those teachers are there to check
on them and be a caring adult who offers support to them,
and that’s a very important part of the academy.”
Vicksburg’s College
and Career Academies
Facing similar issues, the Vicksburg Warren School District
(VWSD) created the Vicksburg Warren College and Career
Academies to bridge the gaps between elementary, secondary
and postsecondary education. Superintendent Chad Shealy
believes that what sets this apart from other efforts is the fact
that they are bringing employers into the mix.
“Nobody’s talking to the employers who are actually the
purchasers of all the education,” says Shealy. “We took the
mindset that all education leads to employment, and we started
with our employers in our town.”
Students in this district are more economically disadvan-
taged than other districts in the state of Mississippi, and the
surrounding community is historically industrial based. When
Shealy took on the role of superintendent in the 2013-2014
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WEST VIRGINIA EXECUTIVE
school year, the district’s graduation rate was just under 60
percent, and only 11 of 8,000 students were enrolled in dual
credit college courses.
“When we began to talk about access and equity issues, there
were a lot of things that were not in the school district to help
close those gaps and get the students to where they needed to
be for college, career and life,” says Shealy.
To address this issue, he turned toward the community.
Together they created a strategic plan that addressed what
the community was seeking from its education program, and
Shealy quickly realized that some of the things the community
considered important for the students were not being provided
by the state’s department of education.
They sought to fix that by implementing a junior high Academy
of Innovation program. This program, which currently has
about 400 participants, allows students to interact with STEM
fields at a young age, such as learning to code in multiple lan-
guages and building robots. The district didn’t want to lose the
momentum built with this training, so it expanded the program
into elementary schools and implemented advanced learning
programs in the high schools.
Believing all education leads to employment, the district focuses
on making sure students are successful in the areas known as
the four exit strategies: employment, enlisting in the military
or another service organization, enrolling in postsecondary
education and entrepreneurship. The district begins building
these skills as early as pre-kindergarten.
VWSD also partnered with Ford Next Generation Learning
to build the Vicksburg Warren College and Career Academies,
centered around the 16 job clusters and split into three sections:
architecture, mechatronics and engineering; health and human
services; and communications, arts and business. With a 79
percent graduation rate for last year’s seniors, the academy model
has drastically changed student experience in the district.