U.S. Department of Justice

Office of Justice Programs

Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention 

◆ A team of teachers (with a lead teacher/coordinator) who have

joined the program by choice.

◆ Voluntary enrollment by students who are allowed to focus on

a discipline of their choice.

◆ Opportunities for students to engage in a full range of elective

and nonacademy courses and other school activities. 

College preparatory curriculum with a career theme. Career

academies combine academic and vocational curriculums into an

integrated career theme (e.g., health, public safety, engineering,

finance). The combined curriculums include the following:

◆ Academic courses that meet high school graduation and college entrance requirements.

◆ Common planning time for the teaching team.

◆ Projects that bring together skills acquired from academic and

career classes.

◆ Counseling to ensure the student has a postsecondary plan.

Partnerships with employers, community, and higher education. Career academies establish partnerships with local

employers to build stronger connections between school and

work, providing students with a range of career development

and work-based learning opportunities. Academies also establish

partnerships with community organizations, parents, and higher

education institutions. Essential components of these partnerships

include the following:

◆ Employers provide mentoring and job shadowing (i.e., opportunities for students to observe employees at work) in career

fields. 

◆ Community partners develop a steering committee to oversee

academy operations within a selected career field. 

◆ Parents support a student’s decision to enroll in an academy

and also participate in academy activities.

◆ Institutions of higher education give students college credit for

completion of course work.

The Career Academy Concept

By Joseph N. Coffee and Scott Pestridge

It has long been known that some students do not perform well

in traditional school settings. In the Bulletins Combating Fear

and Restoring Safety in Schools (Arnette and Walsleben, 1998)

and Reaching Out to Youth Out of the Education Mainstream

(Ingersoll and LeBoeuf, 1997), the Office of Juvenile Justice and

Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) encouraged the establishment

of partnership academies, schools within schools, and school-towork programs as part of a comprehensive strategy to meet the

educational needs of these students and provide them with alternatives to delinquency. 

Career academies are schools within schools that link students

with peers, teachers, and community partners in a disciplined

environment, fostering academic success and mental and emotional health. Originally created to help inner-city students stay

in school and obtain meaningful occupational experience, career

academies and similar programs have evolved into a multifaceted, integrated approach to reducing delinquent behavior and

enhancing protective factors among at-risk youth. Career academies allow youth who may have trouble fitting into the larger

school environment to belong to a smaller educational community and to connect what they learn in school with their career aspirations and goals. Career academies provide at-risk youth with an

alternative to joining gangs and offer these youth an opportunity

to become assets to their communities.

Key Elements

The career academy concept has three key elements (Stern,

Dayton, and Raby, 1998):

A small learning community. Career academies are organized

as small learning communities in which students traditionally

stay with a core group of teachers over the 3 or 4 years they are

in high school. National organizations supporting career academies agree that these small learning communities should include

the following components:

◆ Several classes or disciplines offered solely to academy students in grades 9–12 or 10–12.

May 2001 #15
PRESORTED STANDARD

POSTAGE & FEES PAID

DOJ/OJJDP

PERMIT NO. G–91

FS–200115 Fact Sheet

U.S. Department of Justice

Office of Justice Programs

Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention

Washington, DC 20531

Official Business

Penalty for Private Use $300

A Promising Program

The Criminal Justice Academy is one of five career academies at

Walbrook High School in Baltimore, MD. A 4-year, citywide

comprehensive educational program, the academy partners with

the Baltimore City Police Department, Greater Walbrook Communities, and the Baltimore City Public School System to provide

students with a rigorous academic program that qualifies them for

higher education and/or a career in criminal justice. Students learn

basic skills and receive prerequisite training for careers in law

enforcement. Academy graduates who elect to attend the Baltimore City Community College and major in criminal justice receive up to 15 college credits for completed academy courses. In

spring 2000, 49 students graduated from the Criminal Justice

Academy. Seventy percent of the graduates went on to study at an

institution of higher education. 

Career Academies and At-Risk Youth

Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation has conducted a

5-year evaluation of career academies, covering 9 academies and

1,900 students. The evaluation report (Kemple and Snipes, 2000)

documents the following findings:

◆ Career academies reduced dropout rates by nearly one-third for

at-risk students (those identified as least likely to do well in a

traditional school environment).

◆ Students enrolled in career academies attended high school

more consistently, completed more academic and vocational

courses, and were more likely to apply to college than their

counterparts who were not enrolled in academies.

◆ Career academies provide at-risk youth opportunities to set

goals and reach academic and professional objectives that may

have otherwise been unobtainable. 

For Further Information

In spring 2000, OJJDP helped to create a support group to provide technical assistance to law enforcement agencies, school

systems, and other community agencies interested in developing

and improving local career academies. For information on technical assistance and other aspects of career academies, contact

Joseph N. Coffee, Executive Director, National Partnership for

Careers in Public Safety and Security, 901 North Pitt Street, Suite

320, Alexandria, VA 22314; 703–836–4880 (ext. 20); 

jcoffee@napehq.org (e-mail). 

For information on Walbrook High School’s Criminal Justice

Academy, contact Sergeant Yolanda Whiting, Director, Walbrook High School Criminal Justice Academy, 2000 Edgewood

Street, Baltimore, MD 21216; 410–396–2004; ywhiting@usa.net

(e-mail).

References

Arnette, J.L., and Walsleben, M.C. 1998. Combating Fear and

Restoring Safety in Schools. Bulletin. Washington, DC: U.S.

Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Office of

Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.

Ingersoll, S., and LeBoeuf, D. 1997. Reaching Out to Youth Out

of the Education Mainstream. Bulletin. Washington, DC: U.S.

Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Office of

Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.

Kemple, J.J., and Snipes, J.C. 2000. Career Academies: Impacts

on Students’ Engagement and Performance in High School. San

Francisco, CA: Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation.

Stern, D., Dayton, C., and Raby, M. 1998. A Report: Career

Academies and High School Reform. Berkeley, CA: University of

California at Berkeley.

Joseph N. Coffee, D.P.A., is Executive Director of the National

Partnership for Careers in Public Safety and Security at the National

Association for Partners in Education. Scott Pestridge is a Program

Manager with OJJDP’s Special Emphasis Division.

The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention is a component 

of the Office of Justice Programs, which also includes the Bureau of Justice

Assistance, the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the National Institute of Justice,

and the Office for Victims of Crime.

FS–200115