Model Programs
  LAGUNA CREEK MANUFACTURING PRODUCTION AND TECHNOLOGY ACADEMY - Laguna Creek High Schoo, Elk Grove Unified School District, Laguna Creek, CA Build San Francisco - San Francisco, CA
Business Industry Technology Academy - Anaheim, CAEast San Gabriel Valley Regional Occupational Program and Center - West Covina, CAHealth Careers Academy - Palmdale, CA Health Careers Academy - Placerville, CAHealth Professions High School - Sacramento, CAInformation Systems Academy - Lancaster, CALife Academy of Health and Bioscience - Oakland, CA
Project Lead the Way (PLTW) Pre-Engineering Program - Barstow, CAProject Lead the Way (PLTW) Pre-Engineering Program - Lancaster, CASchool of Digital Media and Design - San Diego, CASpace, Technology and Robotic Systems Academy - Lompoc, CAStanley E. Foster Construction Technology Academy - San Diego, CA

 
Type of program California Partnership Academy
 
Description The Laguna Creek Manufacturing Production Technology Academy (MPTA), a California Partnership Academy established in 1994, enrolls approximately 180 students in grades 9–12. At least 50 percent of these students are “at risk” of dropping out of high school. The MPTA combines the latest in manufacturing technology with direct, ongoing contact with industry and postsecondary institutions to create an applied learning experience for all students interested in manufacturing, engineering, and related industries and occupations.
 
Key Characteristics
  • The curriculum is designed in partnership with industry and postsecondary institutions. Students completing the Academy’s four-year course of study can receive up to nine units of Mechanical Engineering coursework from CSU Sacramento.
  • The curriculum combines core learning and advanced specialized courses with mentoring/job shadowing and hands-on experience in labs that simulate manufacturing.
  • The Academy provides a schoolwide entrepreneurial focus with three pathways: design and engineering, business and marketing, production and manufacturing.
  • The centerpiece of the Academy is a technology lab providing training that is aligned with the California Guidelines for Industrial Technology. The Academy offers students hands-on training in Computer Numeric Control (CNC), mill and lathe, robotics, welding, graphic design, biotechnology, aerodynamics, pneumatics, plastics, research and design, and flight simulation. The Industrial Technology building also houses a woodworking/cabinet-making lab and a CAD lab networked to the technology lab.
  • “A to G” requirements

    • The school and Academy staff consider it very important for students to meet these requirements whether they are continuing on to postsecondary education or joining the workforce. This emphasis helps students keep their options open by providing them with a strong foundation to pursue either higher education or work. The Academy concentrates on preparing students for both options.
    • The Academy also believes that meeting high standards is necessary because students need to have the key proficiencies required upon entry into the workplace.
    • The Academy began with a standard curriculum that was already “a to g” approved and then built the career component into its academic classes.
    • Two CTE classes—CAD and Design and Implementation—are “a to g” approved.
  • A significantly higher percentage of students from the Academy go on to a four-year college than students in the Laguna Creek High School’s general population; in 2005, 57 percent of the Academy students entered a four-year college versus 39 percent of students in the school’s general population.
  • Academy students also perform better than students in the general population in terms of test scores, GPA, and school attendance.