It’s nice to write about a success story. The Alamo Area Academies, a dual-credit program that allows high school students to simultaneously earn a year of college credit, work at a paid internship, and earn industry certifications, recently received a Texas Higher Education Star Award (part of the Closing the Gaps by 2015 program) from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. The Alamo Area Academies are part of Alamo Colleges, the community college district that serves the San Antonio area.
Chancellor Bruce Leslie writes about the Alamo Area Academies’ success:
For the past 10 years, more than 60 percent of first-time-in-college students entering the academies in their junior year have continued the program into their senior year and graduated with an industry-recognized certificate or marketable skills award. Academy students’ completion rates are almost 20 times higher than the THECB certificate completion rates. Since the program began in 2001, the academies have placed 96 percent of graduates immediately into higher education in a STEM field or a career. In any comparison, student participation and success outcomes far exceed state norms by significant margins.
“Award-winning academies helping close the gap”, Bruce Leslie, San Antonio Express-News, Friday, October 12, 2012; see also “Alamo Colleges Net Star Award For the Alamo Area Academies”, Kay Hendricks, Alamo.edu news release, October 5, 2012.
