The Vermont Department of Education defines a Career Academy as a small learning community that serves a full range of students; that entails a college preparatory curriculum developed in the context of a career cluster; that integrates academic and technical instruction with work-based learning; that involves partnerships with employers, the community, and higher education; and that teaches to state academic and industry standards (VT DOE, 2002). At Peoples Academy, a public comprehensive high school in the Morristown School District located in north central Vermont, students, teachers, and administrators launched the Peoples Academy Career Academy of the Arts (PACAA). Through interviews with PACAA parents, students, administrators, and community members, the authors learned that four key elements of PACAA have been developed since its inception. These key elements work in concert with one another to support student learning, engagement, and empowerment. These elements are: (1) Rigorous Arts-Integrated Academic Courses; (2) Teacher Advisory; (3) Community Arts Festival; and (4) School-Community Collaboration. In this article, the authors briefly describes each element to create an impression for the reader as to how PACAA, or any arts-based career academy, might provide an alternative and more holistic way to deliver secondary schooling and engage adolescent learners.
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/rebecca_woodland/11/