"The Doors Are Always Open": The Career Academy Cohort Experience and Nonacademic Outcomes

• In Event: Collaborations, Motivation, and Student Success in Career and Technical Education

Abstract

Research on career academies provides limited evidence about the features of academies that facilitate positive student outcomes, particularly nonacademic skills. This paper focuses on one such feature — cohorting — drawing on a mixed methods study. A quasi-experimental analysis of 1,300 students found that students enrolled in a career academy were more likely to take at least two courses in a CTE sequence (“concentrator” level) than were students enrolled in CTE courses but not an academy. Qualitative data from interviews with 64 students and 40 teachers/staff suggested that development of strong interpersonal connections with peers and teachers may contribute to academy students’ CTE persistence. These cohort features may also facilitate development of nonacademic skills (e.g., collaboration).

Authors

• Katherine A. Shields, Education Development Center, Inc.

• Lynn T. Goldsmith, Education Development Center, Inc.

• Tracy McMahon, Boston College

• David Bamat, Education Development Center

• Clare Waterman Irwin, Education Development Center, Inc.

• Kristin Rosekrans, University of California - Berkeley

• Ilene Kantrov, Education Development Center, Inc.