High School Redesign

In their own words

"It's more than you just go to class, you stay there, and then you leave. Since we go out [into the community] a lot with teachers, they help us on a more personal level and with education. They help us with college, they help us with jobs we might want to shadow. So it's more than just going to class.”

Student in the Education and Child Development Academy, Peter Johansen High School in Modesto, California. December 2009. From Video Vignettes on this website.

Source: National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress, High School Transcript Study 2000, table 2; published online only, at http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/hsts/tables/hsts002.asp (retrieved February 19, 2009). Students are defined as vocational concentrators if they earned at least three credits in a single specific labor market preparation field but had less than twelve credits in the core academic course areas of English, social studies, mathematics, and science.

CCASN works with high schools, groups of high schools or school districts to develop and improve students' college-and-career preparation through Career Academies, Linked Learning Pathways, and Small Learning Communities. Preparing for both college and career is a national goal and increasingly reflected in high school course-taking (see graph below). 

Engaging an entire school or district in design and implementation helps to ensure that school redesign efforts will suceed and endure. The redesign process involves school and district leaders, the business community, unions, postsecondary partners, government, community groups an students.  CCASN draws on extensive field experience to guide the redesign process.  CCASN has distilled some of that experience into guides and articles that can be used as resources for workshops and on-site assistance. 

Guides and Articles

The following CCASN guides and articles can be download for free from our website.

• Expanding Policy Options for Educating Teenagers (pdf)
• Combining Academic & CTE: Impact on High School Dropouts
• Using Better Information to Help Reduce Inequality in College Access
• Is There Solid Evidence of Positive Effects for High School Students?
• Reforming High Schools: The Role for Career Academies
• Career Academies: A 40-Year Proven Model

Workshops

CCASN has lead the following workshops, and many others, related to High School Redesign

• Setting Measureable Goals so All students are College & Career Ready
• The Role of Teacher Leaders in School Redesign
• Communicating a Shared Vision and Commitment
• Ensuring Equity in School System Redesign
• District Structures and Support for Implementing Systemic Change
• Developing Programs of Study for Career Academies, Pathways and Smaller Learning Communities
• Master Scheduling: Balancing the needs of a compreshenisive high school and Academies/SLCs
• Strategies for Assessing School Strenghts and Redesign Needs

To learn more about our workshops, please go to our Contact page, select "Services" from the Subject menu, and enter your question or request.