Step to College. Moving from the High School Career Academy through the Four-Year University / Nan L. Maxwell.

A study empirically examined a high school career academy's influence on entrance into, route through, and outcomes upon exiting a four-year comprehensive, urban university in California. Data are drawn from applicant and student records for all students coming from a single high school district that has a strong career academy program. Findings suggest that students from career academies have higher academic achievement upon leaving high school, less need for remediation in English at the university, and increased graduation rates from the university than students who are not from academies. Unfortunately for students from this district, the high rates of remediation and the low rates of graduation suggest that the impact of the career academy may not be enough to ensure success in postsecondary education. About 70 percent of the applicants from the district need some type of remediation, and about 45 percent need remediation in both mathematics and English. Only about half of those who enroll in the university actually graduate. Unless high school school-to-work programs dramatically improve these percentages for students from inner-city schools, students will continue to struggle at the university level and beyond. (Contains 16 references.) (KC)

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