Employer-Linked Charter School Initiative

School Profile
ST. CLAIR TEC ACADEMIES, Port Huron, MI
(Academies of the Intermediate School District of St. Clair County)

About the School	Curriculum and Instruction
Formation Dynamics	Real-World Practices
Philosophy and Valued Outcomes	Challenges and Solutions
Involved Groups and Decisionmakers	Contact

ABOUT THE SCHOOL

Four charter high schools with a distinct real-world focus have been established and are operated by a cooperative service provider, the Intermediate School District (ISD) of St. Clair County, Michigan. These schools, known in Michigan as "public school academies," are attended by nearly 500 students on a half-day basis, with the remainder of the day spent at the student's home high school. Students, who come from one of twelve high schools (in seven local school districts) located in St. Clair County, are eligible to enroll in their junior and/or senior years in one of ten different programmatic areas within the four academies:

The Academy for Plastics Manufacturing Technology allows high school juniors and seniors to explore and prepare for careers in manufacturing technology. The Academy offers the following programs: Plastics Injection Molding, Metal Machining Technology, Automation in Manufacturing, Drafting/CAD, and Welding.
The Health Careers Academy, with assistance from regional health care providers, offers quality health occupation programs through superior instruction, industry standard curriculum, and exemplary classroom settings.
The Hospitality Academy, with support from the local hospitality industry, provides quality programming in the areas of food service and culinary arts.
The Information Technology Academy prepares students for exciting and rewarding careers in accounting, finance, network administration, and A+ certification, and will link closely with postsecondary institutions for continued learning.

FORMATION DYNAMICS

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The primary reason for the formation of the four real-world charter high schools in St. Clair County was to establish schools that were governed by local business and industry in a new and more meaningful way, resulting in curricula based on industry standards. The charter school model provided a way to involve business and industry as board members who were empowered to make school-related decisions, rather than (in the pre-charter era) as members of advisory committees that may or may not have had any actual authority to influence curriculum, teacher hiring decisions, and instructional practices.

PHILOSOPHY AND VALUED OUTCOMES

The core philosophy of the St. Clair charter high schools is to provide students with high quality career-related learning opportunities by combining superior instruction with industry-standard curricula. The goal of this process is to prepare graduates for employment and/or continued education. Specific outcomes that the four schools value most highly, in terms of what students are to gain by attending, include the following:

Preparation for the reality of life in the 21st century.
Readiness for college, a trade apprenticeship, or work.
Understanding of the links between academic subjects and careers.
Knowledge of a wide range of career and education options.
Knowledge of workplace behavior, expectations, and skills.
Skills related to teamwork, communication, responsibility.
Critical and independent thinking skills.

INVOLVED GROUPS AND DECISIONMAKERS

Groups that were involved in the planning and development phases of the St. Clair charter high schools included the following (note: the program survey did not investigate how the amount and nature of involvement on the part of various stakeholders might differ):

Educators.
Business, industry, trade, or nonprofit employers.
Elected officials or staff of government agencies.
Community advocates.
Colleges and universities.

Prominent decisionmakers at the four academies in terms of their policies and organizational mission/direction include the principal/director and business/industry; these same two stakeholder groups (along with teachers) are also identified as prominent decisionmakers in matters of curriculum and instruction. Governing board members are described as influential in all school-related matters, including curriculum and instruction. Parents, meanwhile, are characterized as "not influential in our structure." Employers, finally, are influential at the St. Clair academies in six key areas (governance, curriculum planning and development, marketing/public relations, providers of learning opportunities outside the school, providers of advice, and as volunteer members of planning committees).

The St. Clair charter high schools also have an extensive list of partnerships with organizations and individuals in the community. The list is described by administrators as "too extensive to list," but they note that each academy's governing board is represented by 5-7 separate corporations or community agencies, and work-based training opportunities for students include more than 200 training sites and 200 job shadowing sites.

CURRICULUM AND INSTRUCTION

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The curriculum used by the four schools is characterized by administrators as "not very different" from most career centers in the area, as it is organized around competencies that are related to a career, job, career pathway or occupational cluster. The curriculum is organized and defined "very precisely," and administrators note that it is "very important" that the curriculum prepares graduates both (a) for a particular career, career cluster or occupational cluster, and (b) to understand links between academic subjects and adult life in the real world. Three instructional methods described as being used "very often" include teacher lecture or teacher-led discussion, workbook exercises, and hands-on activities. The curriculum is described as "constantly revised to meet industry standards."

REAL-WORLD PRACTICES

Providing students with real-world learning opportunities is described as a "strong emphasis" on the curriculum and organization of the St. Clair charter high schools, and administrators state that all enrolled students experience such opportunities. Specific forms that these real world practices take include the following:

Classes that serve as early preparation for certain career fields (such as design, health occupations, or technology).
Creation of marketable products such as a house or a computer network.
Placement in a work site for more than two weeks (a paid or unpaid internship/fellowship).
Part-time jobs that are used as a supplementary learning experience.
Job shadowing (a short visit to a workplace).
Apprenticeships (formal training for a specific career).
Work in a school-based business such as a school store.
Advice from a mentor who works in a business, trade, or industry.
Community development or service learning.
Classroom lessons on work skills and behaviors.
Lessons on resume writing, applying for a job, or interviewing.

CHALLENGES AND SOLUTIONS

Three major issues were identified by administrators as challenges that the schools have encountered:

Rewriting curriculum: Industry-led committees comprised of industry professionals and educators were used to accomplish this task.
Relations with teachers' unions: The schools have worked, with varying levels of success, to develop better relations with local teachers' unions, who have resented their use of non-union instructors. The four schools have been sued for unfair labor practices, but thus far have successfully defended themselves on all issues raised.
Finding, training, and retaining qualified instructors: The primary strategy used here has been a two-pronged approach featuring the use of instructors with relevant industry experience and an innovative professional development partnership with Ferris State University that allows these instructor to gain secondary teaching certification.

CONTACT