The Career Academy Story
A Case Study of How Research Can Move Policy and Practice
During the 1960s, Philadelphia, like several other major U.S. cities, experienced social turmoil, even riots, fueled by poverty and racism. Teachers there were trying to invent new ways to make high school real for their students. Among the innovations they came up with in 1969 were “academies” that would link core academic subjects to an occupational theme.
Almost 40 years later, the results of the latest follow-up in a rigorous evaluation of what have come to be known as “career academies” were announced at the end of June by the nonprofit research organization MDRC (formerly known as the Manpower Demonstration Research Corp.). ( "Career Academies Seen to Pay Off in Higher Earnings," July 16, 2008.) They showed significant positive effects for former students in terms of their employment and earnings eight years after high school.
What happened between 1969 and 2008 says a lot about the usefulness of research to educational innovation. In the career-academy story, researchers have played an important role in advancing practice and policy. That story’s multidecade history illustrates how this can happen, as well as the kind of...
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