They’re all over the state and they’re called California Partnership Academies. They are a response to recognized issues: maintaining a skilled workforce, keeping kids involved in their high school programs, and being sure there are real jobs for them when they finish.

The state’s Department of Education identified 11 basic skills needed in all jobs: Academics, Communications, Career Planning, Technology, Problem Solving, Health & Safety, Responsibility & Flexibility, Ethics & Legal Responsibilities, Leadership & Teamwork, Technical Skills, and Application.

It then sought a researched-based model to teach specific skills in 15 industry sectors. It found that model in the work of John R. Anderson at Carnegie Mellon University on declarative and procedural learning. Declarative knowledge provides information; procedural knowledge provides the application.

The 15 industry sectors range from Agriculture, the Arts, the Building Trades through Education, Engineering, Fashion, Finance, Health Science, and Information Technology to Public Service and the Transportation Industry. A complete list is available online.

Generally, a Career Academy operates as a small learning community within a larger high school. This school year there are 464 of them operating throughout 33 of our 58 counties across all 15 industry sectors. Each Academy is charged with involving local employers to provide work-based learning, in addition to what ‘s learned in the classroom.

Web sites of some of the local examples may be of interest to even middle-school kids thinking about the future. Oakland has, within its regular school system, two academies that get kids ready for jobs in the media and the visual arts. Visual Arts Academy prepares them for jobs in graphic design. Media Academy prepares them for jobs in television, radio, print media, and web design.

There is a new one here in San Francisco, done in cooperation with PG&E, that’s called The Green Energy Academy. It’s described on the state’s website.

It may be too soon to tell which kids will be successful with this approach; but there’s a pretty good chance this use of your tax dollars could give your kids some career choice. We’d tell them to go for it!