Tom Washburn, founder of the Law and Justice Program in Fulton County Schools in Atlanta, Georgia, sees career and technical education (CTE) as a framework for gains in reading comprehension, public speaking, math and science. "It's a holistic approach to learning, framed by law and justice. Behind the scenes we're reading novels, improving organizational and study skills, and doing real-life math applications. CTE is the concrete that holds the bricks together. It gives subjects relevance and is applicable in a real-world way." The idea for a law and justice program began when Washburn was a police officer. Serving as a school resource officer in a suburban school, he was often asked to advise students on careers in the legal system, as well as asked to speak in various high school classes. He realized that a program that prepared students for careers in law enforcement would be a viable CTE program, taking the excitement of learning about forensics and criminal law and using it to reinforce academics. He began to look at how other academic subjects could be reinforced at the same time that the U.S. Department of Education began to encourage cross-curricular integration in CTE. This drive to innovate led to the initial attention the program garnered, but it was the delivery of high-level academic concepts that kept the program in the spotlight. The program has been recognized repeatedly as one of the best in the country, and Washburn himself has dozens of awards and recognitions to show for it.