Raising the Educational Achievement of Secondary School Students - Volume 2 Profiles of Promising Practices - 1995

A r c h i v e d I n f o r m a t i o n

Career Academies Integrating Academic And Applied Learning

Socorro High School for the Health Professions
Socorro, Texas

Key Characteristics

Career academy integrates academic and applied learning

Clinical rotations expose students to a variety of professions

Internships provide technical training
Number of Students: 22
Grades Served: 9-12

Racial/Ethnic Breakdown:
98% Mexican American

Eligible for Free/Reduced-Price Lunch: 76%
Chapter 1 Program: Yes (Schoolwide in 1994-95)
Major Sources of Outside Funding: Chapter 1, Carl Perkins, JTPA

Overview

Ana Rodriguez has just finished a morning of classes typical for a college-bound high school junior--chemistry, English, U.S. history, and geometry. After a quick lunch she will board a school bus bound for the El Paso Community Health Center, where she has been shadowing a pediatric nurse on his rounds. Seven months into the school year, Ana has completed eight of ten scheduled rotations in hospitals and health services agencies throughout El Paso; she likes working with children and has decided to pursue pediatrics for her year-long clinical placement during her senior year.

At Socorro High School for the Health Professions, the career academy model offers students like Ana an integrated academic and health-related curriculum and the work-based learning that will prepare them for high-skilled jobs in the health professions. Academic excellence, community service, and hands-on work experience help students develop positive attitudes about school as they plan and prepare for future careers.

School/Program Context

The Socorro High School for the Health Professions is a school-within-a-school located in metropolitan El Paso's Socorro High School. Every year it admits about 50 ninth graders interested in the health professions. Sixty-four percent of Socorro students have mothers who did not graduate from high school or complete an equivalency degree, and many students are first-generation U.S. citizens. Ninety-eight percent of Socorro students are bilingual; about 15 percent have limited English proficiency.

Students must earn a minimum high school GPA of 2.0 to continue in the program; students falling below that level must pass failed courses before they can re-enter.

Major Program Features

The Socorro High School for the Health Professions introduces students to more than 300 health care careers and their academic prerequisites. The program's goals are to: (1) introduce students to health careers via role models, speakers, and practical experience; (2) develop students' academic skills through early identification and remediation of academic deficits, integration of the core curriculum with a health care focus, peer tutoring, preparation for standardized tests, and honors courses; and (3) develop students' skills for career entry and certification as nursing assistants, dental assistants, medical laboratory assistants, unit coordinators, medical transcribers, EKG technicians, phlebotomists, and home health aides.

Academic Program

Courses. Socorro combines a traditional college-preparatory course of study with applied health occupations classes. The ninth-grade program includes a double period of math (pre-algebra and Algebra I) and an introductory health occupations course. Tenth-grade students take a foreign language and a two-period, pre-employment health occupations lab in addition to their other courses. Eleventh graders take a third year of math and science and begin their field experience in a series of clinical rotations. While reserving two to three periods for health occupations cooperative placements, seniors continue their academic coursework and take English, social studies, and (if they choose) math and science.
A team of eight teachers, including two health occupations teachers, meets weekly to integrate academic and occupational instruction, address individual student needs, and plan academy events. Occupation-related assignments for students include writing biographical sketches of medical pioneers in English class, developing a health care reform agenda in social studies, and solving math word problems using medical applications (e.g., temperature conversions in the human body, drug dosage conversions, and intravenous solution dilution problems.
Team clusters. Academy students are grouped in teams that remain together for all four years of the program. Students take all their classes with their assigned teams, including English, math, social studies, science, and health occupations. Teachers stay with the same group of students throughout the program; in this way, students and teachers develop closer relationships than would be possible in a traditional high school.

School-to-Work Transition

Clinical rotations. In their junior year, academy students spend half of each school day in clinical rotations. These are unpaid assignments that enable students to explore a range of health occupations and prepare them to enter the co-op program in their senior year. Students rotate through 12 three-week assignments in health services administration, direct care, support services, rehabilitation, diagnostic/therapeutic services, volunteer services, the city/county health department, and two electives. Clinical rotations also include one three-week block in which students visit local community and four-year colleges to learn about postsecondary health-related education. Socorro offers students a range of choices for each clinical rotation. Under direct care, for example, students may shadow nurses in pediatrics, surgery, internal medicine, intensive care, or oncology. Socorro places students in area hospitals, public health clinics, doctors' offices, and community health agencies. Students' on-site activities are primarily job shadowing and observation; students formalize their learning by completing study assignments, task sheets, and clinical observation sheets. The district provides transportation from the school to clinical placements so that all students can participate.
Internships. In their senior year, students fill out job applications and undergo interviews for year-long internships. Past internships have been career-entry jobs in nursing services, physical therapy and EKG facilities, medical laboratories, medical clinics, dental offices, nursing homes, school nurse offices, occupational therapy departments, and nursing education offices. Student interns work between 15 and 20 hours per week (three to four hours every afternoon) and attend a one-period health occupation class every day. Department supervisors and other medical professionals monitor student progress toward learning the essential elements of the job, as specified in individual training plans signed by the supervisor, student, parent, and high school internship coordinator. Clinical supervisors complete student performance evaluations every six weeks.
Cooperative placements. Typically, students in cooperative placements who have earned a positive evaluation from their clinical supervisors and completed their first 12 weeks on the job become regular employees and are paid part-time salaries directly by the facility. Although the training period technically ends with the school year, outstanding students continue after training ends. For students who are interested in pursuing their education beyond high school but may not qualify for full scholarships, these jobs provide money for college tuition.

Postsecondary Education

The academy program serves as a bridge to postsecondary education for students interested in furthering their formal educations. The health occupations coordinators attribute much of the academy's success in this area to strong counseling and mentoring. For example, eleventh graders taking clinical rotations spend one week observing college classes to gain exposure to the higher education system. The students then walk through the application process and fill out scholarship forms. Socorro staff serve as advisors to students planning for further education.

Under articulation agreements approved by the state, the Nursing and Allied Health Programs Department of El Paso Community College can grant up to eight credits for health occupations courses completed at Socorro High School.

Professional Affiliations

Ninety percent of Socorro Academy for the Health Professions' students participate actively in the school chapter of the Health Occupations Students of America (HOSA) and in its local, state, and national competitions. HOSA activities build unity among health occupations students and reinforce their classroom experiences by bringing them into contact with other students who have similar aspirations and by expanding their knowledge of health professions. In addition, the teachers receive information and support through their involvement in this national network of health occupation educators. Activities have involved students in public speaking, demonstrating their CPR skills, and responding to mock trauma cases. In addition to HOSA, the academy's Association of Students and Parent/Professionals (ASAP) serves as a forum for area health care professionals, students, teachers, and parents to share their experiences and ideas.

Support for Implementation

Socorro's network of extended relationships with local businesses, community colleges, and four-year colleges enables the program to make cooperative placements. Many of these partnerships were facilitated by the school's successful overtures to the El Paso Hospital Council, a coalition of CEOs from all the major health care facilities in the city. Working through the council, Socorro staff "sell the program from the top down" and win commitments for support through on-the-job assignments and on-site mentoring.

The program used a portion of the district's JTPA funds to cover start-up costs. Ongoing operational costs for the academy exceed the cost of the regular academic program by about $50 to $100 per student per year. The additional monies are spent on equipment, supplies, and program development, although teachers do much of the development work during conference periods or on their own time.

Evidence of Success

Socorro became a school-within-a-school in 1991-92. Scores on the Texas Assessment of Academic Study (TAAS) for sophomores (first-time testers) at Socorro High School as a whole indicate substantial increases in reading, writing, and math achievement. In 1992-93, reading scores increased about 20 points from the previous year, with 55 percent of students passing. In 1993-94, the number of sophomores passing the TAAS reading test further increased to 62 percent of students passing. Writing scores increased from 50 percent to 75 percent passing between 1991-92 and 1992-93, and this gain was sustained in 1993-94. Math scores increased to 49 percent passing in 1992-93 and to 62 percent in 1993-94--the highest math scores for first-time tested students in the city.

The first student cohort to complete the four-year health academy program will graduate in 1996. Preliminary outcome data (based on students who entered the program as sophomores and juniors) are promising. According to the Socorro health occupations coordinator, 95 percent of academy graduates are either: (1) enrolled as full-time students in postsecondary programs in health careers, (2) continuing in their cooperative jobs and attending postsecondary institutions on a part-time basis, or (3) working full-time in training-related cooperative jobs.
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