Instruction is provided in modules on critical thinking, quality control, applied math, technologies at work, work successes, workplace economics, computer literacy, and safety. Students are required to finish one module every two weeks and may also test out of modules. Pasadena Graphic Arts Academy, Pasadena, California The Pasadena Graphic Arts Academy prepares students for employment in the printing industry of greater Los Angeles. The academy model assumes an approach to instruction and curriculum fundamentally different from traditional classroom practice. Adopting this principle has meant small classes and lab sessions that rely on applied use of academic skills, cooperative learning groups, team problem solving, and mastery learning techniques.
Teachers try to provide frequent feedback, basing grades and credit on performance.
The model for instruction is teacher as facilitator, students as worker. Academy instructors modify all academic subjects to complement lab sessions and illustrate the application of these subjects to printing. They must also integrate safety guidelines, work habits, and ethics into the curriculum. For example, academy students built a small printing press and made ink, applying the theory and practice of science to printing. Students produced booklets about biological reproduction, writing text that had to meet academic standards for both English and biology, and printing a booklet that had to meet technical printing standards.