ERIC Number: ED477819
Record Type: RIE
Publication Date: 2003-Apr
Pages: 5
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1059-2776
EISSN: N/A
Shaping Postsecondary Transitions: Influences of the National Academy Foundation Career Academy. IEE Brief.
Orr, Margaret Terry; Hughes, Katherine L.; Karp, Melinda Mechur
IEE Brief, n29 Apr 2003
To assess the impact of the National Academy Foundation (NAF) career academy (CA) model, a large-scale, multi-site evaluation was undertaken. Survey and interview data on program experiences and postsecondary outcomes were analyzed from nine CA programs. The study used pre-post evaluation of student data, field visits, and written and telephone surveys. It drew on data for 199 graduating CA seniors and a comparison group of 190 non- CA seniors; survey data for 157 alumni who had graduated from 9 long-standing NAF-affiliated CAs 5 and 10 years before the study; survey data for 34 CA and 26 non-CA teachers; and survey data for 192 employees. Findings include the following: (1) the program impacts students positively by providing a quality experience they find beneficial and by engaging them in schooling, but it neither adds to nor detracts from their overall academic achievement; (2) as measured by their college enrollment and completion, improved career aspirations, and employment outcomes, the program positively impacts students' postsecondary transitions; (3) for teachers, the CA model challenges them to think differently about their work with students, their teaching, and their work with one another; (4) CAs provided a structured avenue for strategic and substantive employer participation. (Contains 18 references) (YLB)
Descriptors: Academic Achievement, Articulation (Education), Career Academies, Career Education, Career Planning, College School Cooperation, Educational Attainment, Educational Planning, Educational Research, Employee Attitudes, Employer Attitudes, Graduate Surveys, Job Training, Outcomes of Education, Program Evaluation, School Business Relationship, Secondary Education, Teacher Attitudes, Transitional Programs, Vocational Education
For full text: http://www.tc.columbia.edu/~iee/BRIEFS/Brief29.pdf.
Publication Type: Collected Works - Serials; Information Analyses; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: Columbia Univ., New York, NY. Inst. on Education and the Economy.
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Note: Supported by the National Academy Foundation.