Building community bonds, bridges, and linkages to promote the career readiness of high school students in the United States

Vocational Education and Training in the Age of Digitization

“…Our findings in this area confirm the role of varying local conditions expected in the US. On the one hand, we found evidence reinforcing the value of social capital as a framework for understanding collaboration between school staff and employers in the community (Lanford & Maruco, 2018;Hernandez-Gantes et al, 2018). On the other hand, we also discovered that support from local employers may be difficult to establish and maintain without coherent alignment of an operational vision and curricular theme (Badgett, 2016;Hernandez-Gantes et al, 2017).…”

“…The role of external supports is, perhaps, the area where a holistic perspective for implementation intersects with the operational vision, the nature of the curricular theme, and related support from local employers (Alfeld et al, 2013;Badgett, 2016). A key component of career academies is the collaboration with business in the community through advisory boards (Hernandez-Gantes et al, 2018;Hernandez-Gantes, Jenkins, & Fletcher, 2017). In this case, we found that at Cascade Academy, where the operational vision was clearly aligned with technological preparation in IT and visible and coherent curricular tracks, local support from a network of employers was very strong.…”

“…In this regard, it was evident that the role of paid internships is a necessary curricular condition for the successful implementation of career academies. To be sure, the availability of paid internships that provide authentic work experiences to students are difficult to establish and sustain in the US and the experience at Cascade Academy may represent an exception rather than the rule (Hernandez-Gantes, Keighobadi, & Fletcher, 2018;Lanford & Maruco, 2018).…”

“…Unlike some European countries with a dual system of vocational education and training, the limited availability of work-based learning experiences continues to be a challenge for promoting rigorous technological preparation in the US (Bliem, Petanovitsch, & Schmid, 2016;Gessler & Howe, 2015;Ruth & Grollmann, 2009). The best we can do as part of the mainstream system of technical education, is paid summer internships through career academies, but such instances may represent an exception rather than the rule (Hernandez-Gantes et al, 2018;Lanford & Maruco, 2018). Albeit these issues in the American system, the career academy model may still offer the best avenue for the promotion of technological preparation, even if only a small number of students end up pursuing related pathways.…”

Vocational Education and Training in the Age of Digitization

“…In this regard, it was evident that the role of paid internships is a necessary curricular condition for the successful implementation of career academies. To be sure, the availability of paid internships that provide authentic work experiences to students are difficult to establish and sustain in the US and the experience at Cascade Academy may represent an exception rather than the rule (Hernandez-Gantes, Keighobadi, & Fletcher, 2018;Lanford & Maruco, 2018).…”