Archived -- Department of Education: "Break the Mold" High Schools

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

A Back to School Special Report on the Baby Boom Echo - August 1997

"BREAK THE MOLD" HIGH SCHOOLS

Encina High School in Sacramento, California: Four years ago, Encina High School in Sacramento, California, embarked on a journey of organizational change. In an intensive twoday seminar called the Search Conference, stakeholders such as staff, students, parents, administrators, district Board of Education representatives, industry partners, and others from the community met and hammered out a careerrelated reform plan for Encina that has been implemented with remarkable success.

The stakeholders at Encina High School decided that all students could benefit from being in one of five academies. The Freshman Academy includes all ninth graders and facilitates their exploration of career possibilities. The tenth through twelfthgraders have a choice of one of four academies: (1) Health Careers Academy, (2) Graphic Arts Academy, (3) Academy of Business Careers, and (4) Academy of Career Exploration. The program offers students workplace mentors, job shadowing experiences, paid and unpaid apprenticeships and internships, and field trips to work sites.

Since the implementation of the program in 1993, the number of students taking the Advanced Placement exam has increased over 100 percent, and Scholastic Achievement Test scores have increased 7 percent in math and 6 percent in verbal areas.

Sussex Technical High School in Georgetown, Delaware: In just six years, Sussex Technical High School in Georgetown, Delaware, has been transformed from an area vocational school with declining student enrollment and low academic achievement to a restructured high school that offers students a challenging, integrated curriculum. The high school reorganized its occupational program into four clusters (Automotive/Diesel Technologies, Business Technologies, Health/Human Services Technologies, and Industrial/Engineering Technologies).

In addition to its technical instructors, each cluster has a group of designated academic teachers in English, math, science, and social studies. Ninth graders rotate through a series of exploratory units and choose their cluster at the end of the year. In a recent school year, 64 percent of graduating students entered postsecondary education after earning $500,000 in scholarships. The dropout rate has been less than 2 percent, and the attendance rate for the 1995/96 school year was 95 percent.

High School of Economics and Finance, New York, New York: Located in the heart of Wall Street, the High School of Economics and Finance offers its students a unique and challenging environment for intellectual and personal development. Students have the opportunity for extensive interaction with the surrounding financial community, primarily through the Sanford I. Weill Institute and a variety of work experiences.

Teachers of every academic subject weave the thread of economics into their disciplines to help youngsters understand its impact on virtually all aspects of our world. In their first year at the school, students take Welcome to Wall Street, an introduction to careers in finance. An extensive training program puts teachers in contact with industry professionals, enables them to intern in financial firms, and connects them with colleagues in a national network of Academy of Finance schools. Not a single student has dropped out since the school opened in 1993.

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