Connecticut’s 12 career clusters. So, these are what we have in common across the nation, but also matched with local opportunity.” One notable example is the Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) program. On completion, students graduate with both a CNA license and a high school diploma. This certification allows them to continue their education in medical programs or to enter the workforce directly. “It creates a student that is able to pivot in different directions,” Dr. Casimiro underscores. “That program was so phenomenal, and it was highly competitive. So, to do this for all of our students, we created a wall to wall academy model, where every student gets an opportunity to participate.” The focus on career exploration starts in ninth grade, where learners are enrolled in an exploration seminar, which introduces them to the various career options and the real-world demands of different professions. At the end of the year students rank their preferred pathways, and efforts are made to accommodate their top choices. Additionally, students can shift if they discover a different passion during the course of their studies. “The goal is that by the time you graduate high school, you’ve had a little bit of a chance to try something on for size in a no risk environment,” relays Dr. Casimiro. Donovan adds,“One of the things we always tell our parents is, career exploration in college is expensive, career exploration in high school is not.” Staff engagement has also played a crucial role in the success of the academies. “We spent the last two years building our Professional Learning Communities, by academy,” Donovan depicts. He shares that teachers participate in externships with local businesses to better understand the skills and knowledge students will need in the workforce. “Now, teachers are working together to develop project based learning units, taking information that they have, together with the curriculum experts in the district, as well as what they learned on those externships,” he describes. “When students leave here- if they want to go to college, they can keep Advisory boards play a key role in ensuring that the curriculum is relevant to modern workforce demands. By engaging industry leaders, the academies are able to offer a curriculum that is aligned with real-world opportunities. This helps students graduate with a range of skills and credentials. “We are giving kids a lot of choice,” she maintains. “Right now, we have 22 pathways, and we’re still growing.All of the pathways were based on national career clusters, regional career clusters, and then 392 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 05, ISSUE 10
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