Goose Creek CISD News
GCCISD CTE Academies Earn Coveted Model Academy Designation
05/30/2023

By: Kristyn Hunt Cathey, APR – Director of Communications

Two of the district’s CTE academies recently earned the coveted Model Academy status designation by the National Career Academy Coalition. This is the highest designation awarded by NCAC, and each academy will hold it for four years. The academies learned of their status during special ceremonies on May 17th.

 

lee stem academy staff pose at surprise presentation event

Members of the Lee STEM Academy staff pose proudly during their surprise presentation event.

 

The Robert E. Lee High School STEM Academy and Ross S. Sterling High School Health Science Academy were part of the district’s original three academies; presented by Dr. Randal O’Brien in 2014. Students were enrolled in the academies during the 2014-2015 school year. The Sterling Academy also earned a perfect score!

 

Both academies went through their first national review in 2019, where they received Model Academy status and were recognized at the National Career Academy Coalition Conference in Philadelphia in the fall of 2019. Model status is valid for four years and then the academy must go through a new review process to maintain their status. Of course, there are no guarantees that an academy will maintain their status.

 

The review process began last October with initial meetings with NCAC, and training sessions attended by district staff. Academy artifacts and historical academy data had to be prepared along with NCAC surveys that were completed by academy administrators, teachers, students, and advisory board members. All documentation had to be submitted in March prior to the onsite reviews on April 5th. The day of the review consisted of an academy presentation, followed by multiple rounds of interviews with the review team, and a campus tour. The review team interviewed academy teachers, academy students and advisory board members in separate 30-minute segments. Following the interviews was a final debrief with the academy administrators and CTE staff. Many hours were spent meeting among all participants in the review on a weekly/bi-weekly basis as well as a mock review day that was coordinated in-house to prepare for the actual review.