A Highly Successful Career Academy Conference

By Kathleen Harris

On November 3-6 , 2008, the National Career Academy Coalition held their annual conference in St. Louis, Missouri. One of their best attended conferences to date, it was also one of the best programs ever offered. The primary focus was the sharing of promising practices by successful Career Academies across the nation. In addition, this year’s program included a discussion with key industry partners and post secondary representatives in all the major career cluster areas.

Nova Southeastern University’s Fischler School of Education and Human Services was one of the conference sponsors, and the NIEO team, lead by Nigel Whyte, provided conference logistical coordination, ensuring a positive experience for all attendees.
The keynote speakers set the tone. Maxine Clark is CEO of Build-A-Bear Workshop which is headquartered in St. Louis and has $302M in annual sales with over 300 stores worldwide. Ms. Clark addressed the important role academies play in preparing a talented workforce. Dr. Pedro Noguera is one of America’s most important voices on education reform.  An advocate for a strong and vibrant public education system, he is the author of City Schools and the American Dream: Reclaiming the Promise of Public Education and of Unfinished Business: Closing the Racial Achievement Gap in Our Schools. He emphasized the positive effects Career Academies are having in serving minority youth.

Career Academies are smaller learning communities with a career theme and are fast becoming a primary secondary reform initiative in America’s high schools. These programs are partnered with community business and industry, along with post secondary programs, to offer goal oriented, relevant instruction with high rigor academic skills and seamless transitions to work or further education. Since these programs group a dedicated team of teachers with students over time and focus on student talents, interest and goals they allow a personalization of the secondary program that can improve school climate, increase the completion rate and raise achievement scores.

The National Career Academy Coalition has long represented and served the educators offering these programs and was a leader in establishing National Standards of Practice for Career Academies. Working with NAF (National Academy Foundation), CASN (Career Academy Support Network), SREB (Southern Regional Education Board), and others, they established these standards and a process for assessing quality Career Academy programs. At this conference, participants could choose sessions aligned with these standards and learn how other schools have successfully addressed them.
Feedback on this conference was overwhelmingly positive, and the association president, Susan Katzman, the NCAC Board and the conference committee should be commended for offering a clear guiding light for designing, implementing and sustaining quality Career Academies.