I would think that an additional benefit of academies would be a modivational factor for keeping more kids in school through graduation! How much time is spent in academies during the day and what other basic classes are all students required to complete for graduation? Do studts choose different academies each year or semester or do they stick with one academy throughout their highschool carreer?

Career academies started over 35 years ago as a high school reform effort -- breaking large comprehensive high schools into more personal small-learning communities. A key feature of career academies is linking academics with a career focus. The curricula and strategies employed prepare students for both college and career. Most career academies are smaller "schools-within-a-school," although there are a growing number of high schools that are "wall-to-wall" academies.

For more information about career academies, read the article with accompanies this video. Just click on "more to this story" (just above the video player.) Edutopia has another video/article on a biotech academy which you'll find at http://www.edutopia.org/biotech-academy-challenging-assumptions-and-chan...

A great place to learn more about career academies is the Career Academy Support Network (CASN) Web site at http://casn.berkeley.edu/index.html.