Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (CMS) is taking a “blended model” approach to college and career readiness. In this model, NC News Schools is working in partnership with the National Academy Foundation (NAF) to match local workforce needs with high school course offerings.

Charlotte has long been a hub for engineering and energy industry jobs. Now with the help of partners like Duke Energy and UNC-Charlotte, the first blended model early college — Charlotte Engineering Early College (CEEC) — opened this fall to prepare high school students for specialized positions in the local job market. The school uses a comprehensive STEM curriculum with an emphasis on engineering and, like other early colleges, will enable students to earn up to two years of free, transferrable college credit.

“The end goal is to impact the students, and I think this student-centered model achieves that result,” said Gail McDougal, a CMS learning community liaison.

The district is bringing the same career academy approach with NC New Schools and NAF into five traditional high schools in the district, creating a school-within-a-school at Berry Academy of Technology, Butler Academy of Health Sciences, Hawthorne Academy of Health Sciences, Independence Academy of Engineering and Vance Academy of Engineering.

In addition to the work within specific schools, CMS is participating in an expansion of Coach University, a structured program of professional learning designed by NC New Schools to develop exceptional instructional coaches in schools and districts across North Carolina. In order to establish a sustainable system of professional development, the district has chosen to Coach University to train their own instructional coaches so that CMS can ultimately provide its own professional development training to local educators. NC New Schools is helping CMS train more than a dozen coaches on-site to become future instructional coaches.