Carlmont Academy Mentor Program

Description

The Partnership Academy model, originating with the Philadelphia Academies in the late 1960s, spread to California in the early 1980s. There are currently 290 funded programs inCalifornia. The model is a carefully designed and evaluated learning community with the following elements:

• A close working partnership between a high school and the local business community

• A school-within-a-school in which students in grades ten through twelve take on a technical class and three academic classes that are for Academy students only (English, social studies, Computer Applications at CHS)

• Voluntary enrollment by students

• Parental permission

• Integrated curriculum with Academy teachers having a common planning period

• Orientation of students towards graduating, receiving a fully credited diploma, and continuing with post-secondary training and/or education

• Development of occupational skills needed by employers

• A mentor program with eleventh grade students matched to a volunteer who is committed to two to four hours each month with the student

• Summer jobs following the eleventh grade provided summer school is not required to meet graduation requirements

• Part-time work experience during the twelfth grade

• Preparation for both college and career in a selected field

• Additional motivational activities with local community and employer involvement