MCHS
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Morgan County High School:
A Georgia College & Career Academy
What Are College
and Career Academies?
GeorgiaCCAN (College and Career Academy Network) is a network of schools that promote academic excellence and prepare students for the 21st century work force.
The College and Career Academy model helps businesses partner with local high schools and technical colleges to allow students obtain a technical certificate upon graduation to begin employment with a local company. These students receive specific training and develop specialized skills needed to pursue a career path catered to their individual skills set. Many work towards post-secondary education while they’re still in high school, but most importantly – it prepares students to compete and excel in a 21st century workforce.
Georgia CCAN seeks to provide the leadership at the state level to ensure success at the local level. Developed to provide quality education to students, college and career academies are designed to partner with local school systems, local businesses and industries, and local schools within Georgia’s technical college system or university system. These partnerships enable the development and growth of high school and college-level programs that prepare students for in-demand jobs and success in higher education.
Students find that the college and career academies’ challenging, hands-on programs provide greater relevancy and value in today’s workforce. This leads to higher graduation rates, immediate employment opportunities, and greater access to college. The specified student training is attractive to area businesses, and communities prosper from a highly-trained local workforce.
Why does Morgan County Need a College and Career Academy
The justification for the creation of the academy is two-fold: First, the schools acknowledge that there are students who attend school every day without a purpose. Many of these students perform poorly in classes, have attendance issues, and as a result, some drop out. The school’s dropout rate and CCRPI performance in 12 areas represents the lives of students who have been unmotivated by current educational programing. Second, the region is growing through the expansion of current businesses and the relocation of other businesses to the area. These businesses will have need for highly-skilled employees. Many of these jobs are “high skill” and “high demand”’ as described by the Governor’s High-Demand Career Initiative Report. The purpose of the MCHS: GaCCA is to help meet this demand while providing students with meaningful preparation for careers in which they will be readily employable. The Board of Education has shown its commitment to the CCA concept by hiring a superintendent who has the expertise and work experience to ensure the success of a college and career academy. The organizational structure of the system has been arranged to support a CCA. This included identifying a new CTAE director/CCA Project Leader, creating new positions for a Career Pathway Coordinator, an Assessment & Accountability Coordinator, and a STEAM Coordinator to assist in executing the plan. The reallocation of ESPLOST funds and the creation of a Master Facility Plan also builds synergy for the project. Essential partnerships have been created to ensure that the community’s education and workforce needs are met. A thorough self-examination and reflection was conducted by the school district and a CCA steering committee comprised of business/industry, TCSG, stakeholders, and parents and served as the foundation for self evaluation