Model 6: The Academy Model
The sixth model proposed by Grubb, Davis, Lum, Phihal, and Morgaine (1991) calls for the development of academies, or schools within a school. Each academy has a specific vocational focus, such as automotive, computers, agriculture, health occupations, electronics, or business. Typically, a team of teachers from math, English, science, and the particular vocational area combine their instruction and stay with a group of students for several years. Class size is usually small to allow for sustained contact between students and instructors as well as coordination between teachers. Instruction is aligned both horizontally and vertically. Students also take some classes, such as history, foreign language, and other electives, outside the academy structure. Academies often are recommended for students who are at risk of dropping out of high school or who appear to be performing below their potential.
To be effective, the academy model depends upon relationships with businesses in the same occupational area. For example, a health occupations academy needs to develop ties with a local hospital; an electronics or computer academy needs to develop ties with high-tech firms. Grubb, Davis, Lum, Phihal, and Morgaine (1991) discuss the benefits of such relationships:
"The firms provide mentors to all students, send individuals to talk on particular aspects of their operations, provide tours of their facilities, and offer summer internships for students; thus, there are regular contacts, both individual and throughout the academy, between firms and students, and other sources of instruction and motivation (cognitive, behavioral, and financial) in addition to that provided by teachers. The contact with firms makes the academies real in a sense that conventional high schools are not, providing a context for instruction that even a well-equipped vocational program cannot offer." (p. 46)