At what looked like a corporate trade show, students from Miguel Contreras Business and Tourism School in Los Angeles solicited customers for their tour company. Teacher Darrell Iki helped the students launch Big City Tours, which exists only in the classroom and online.

Kaye also touted the importance of Linked Learning to create a long-term pipeline of students that are trained for the jobs of the 21st century. The Linked Learning approach integrates rigorous academics that meet college-ready standards with sequenced, high-quality career-technical education, work-based learning, and supports to help students stay on track.

In recent years, SCLA has been a national leader and innovator in the field of arts and human services. Partnerships have included the National Endowment for the Arts, U.S. Department of Justice, the Department of Mental Health, US Department of Veteran Affairs, Arts and Healthcare, Volt Workforce Solutions in Anaheim, and the Linked Learning office of the Los Angeles Unified School District.

STEM Academy belongs to a model called Linked Learning, which emphasizes not only college and career prep but also on-the-job experience through internships and interactions with experts. It is one of eight schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District and one of 167 statewide certified as Linked Learning by the Linked Learning Alliance.

“What we learned is extremely valuable and as one of our DECA ambassadors even said it gave him hope. Another student said that having the attorneys speak to us as a group and then one on one, made the experience ‘real’ for her.”

When we talk about what is a good school, we need to ask, “How much are students learning?” Where do students start when they begin their education at that school, and where do they end up when they finish? If we do that, we can shift the focus to what really matters and celebrate the schools that are truly providing a good education.

Van Nuys High school was one of the top 10 schools to compete in the UTI Top Tech Challenge, which was held Saturday in Long Beach. Two-member teams compete in a series of hands-on events that test their knowledge of automotive tools, parts and operating systems.

Jaspal Dhillon and Ivan Reyes competed against teams from 23 other Southern California high schools and earned near-perfect scores in both written and hands-on categories. The contest tests their skills, measures their knowledge, and challenge their ability to diagnose and repair vehicles.

Nickelodeon Animation Studios recently sent one of its top artists, along with more than two dozen high-tech gizmos, to Augustus Hawkins High, where students in the Critical Design and Gaming School(C:\DAGS, a Linked Learning Pathway) got to try their hand at creating cartoon images of their own.

Earlier this month, Congresswoman Maxine Waters joined with federal, state and local officials in visiting Linked Learning programs at the STEM Academy of Hollywood and Los Angeles High School of the Arts. The visit was organized by the Alliance for Excellent Education, a national policy and advocacy organization dedicated to transforming America’s high schools.

The Bridgespan Group included career pathways in its recent 'billion dollar bets' series

Employers say today’s graduates are not applying for jobs with the skills they need to be successful in a range of industries. And while thousands of high schools are working to expose students to career opportunities early and help them develop the soft skills they’ll need in the workplace, a recent report calls on philanthropists to join the effort.

Last week, two high schools in Los Angeles Unified School District opened their doors to show policymakers representing the federal government as well as local and state education leaders—the Linked Learning approach in action.

Linked Learning is an instructional approach that integrates rigorous academics, high-quality career and technical education, work-based learning, and student supports. It is aimed at preparing all students, especially those who are traditionally underserved, to graduate from high school with the skills necessary to succeed in college and a career.

The Center for Powerful Public Schools’ Engineering Environmental Innovation (EEI) program prepares high school students for careers in energy engineering and sustainability. This story is part of a series on the innovative ways that 2015 Youth Opportunity Fund grantees are supporting innovative and scalable programs that increase the employability of young people and connect them to economic opportunities in their cities.

Linked Learning is a successful approach to education that is based on the idea that students work harder and dream bigger if their education is relevant to them. It integrates multiple components, including rigorous academics that meet college-ready standards with quality career-technical education. Linked Learning is a large-scale, innovative high school approach being implemented in a growing number of urban, suburban, and rural communities in California and other states across the country.

Combining academic and career classes is key to the School of Business and Tourism. It shares this approach with other schools in California’s Linked Learning initiative. All of them offer a program centered on an industry theme, called a pathway, integrating the career focus into classes and projects throughout the school day. The idea is to combine the academic strengths of a college-preparatory program with the real-world relevance of career and technical education.

CHAS is one of a handful of pilot schools now populating the public education landscape through the Los Angeles Unified School District, offering students a career “pathway” toward a specific career through interdisciplinary studies carefully crafted by their teachers, administrators, and a network of community partners to impact the local community. Here, students set their sights on careers in social work and health care.

Part of what it takes to ensure students are college and career ready is to provide students with hands-on, workplace learning opportunities to enrich their academic experience. Work-based learning opportunities are important for developing essential skills needed for the 21^st century workforce, such as the ability to communicate effectively, think critically, problem solve, resolve conflict, work well with others, and the list goes on and on.

Middle school is fraught with drama: hormonal shifts, petty relationships and academic challenges. And so the high schoolers of a theater class at the School of History and Dramatic Arts (SoDHA) were tasked with channeling that drama into a dramatic performance. But to write the play, the students didn't just tap into their own memories of their journey into adolescence. Rather, they consulted current middle schoolers to bring unique characters to life.

This is part of a series looking at the different types of schools that make up the Los Angeles Unified School District. As part of our examination of magnets, LA School Report visited Francisco Bravo Medical Magnet to learn what makes it one of the top schools in the district.

Youth in CalArts Community Arts Partnership’s theater program at LAUSD’s School of History and Dramatic Arts explore how social and economic factors contribute to the phenomenon of absent parents. 
 
Kaleidoscope is an example of how “linked learning” techniques provide students with academic and vocational skills through hands-on practice and collaboration.