The Walton County School System was one of three communities in Georgia selected to receive technical assistance and create a national model high school and charter school based on the Central Educational Center (CEC) Model. CEC’s mission is “to ensure a viable 21st century workforce.” The school achieves that mission by seamlessly blending academics with career/technical education, blending college and high school, and blending education with business.
The CEC Model has helped Coweta County’s dropout rate improve by 42%, helped raise the high school completion rate by 41%, and helped raise SAT scores by 33 points in four years. High school students who dual-enroll with the technical college, earning simultaneous credit toward a high school diploma and a technical college associate degree, graduate from high school at a minimum 98% completion rate, with all completers either going on to additional college or to a job for which they are trained within 120 days of graduation. Economically disadvantaged students at CEC pass their graduation tests on the first try between 4% and 19% better than their peers who don’t attend CEC.
“This compelling performance data was one reason the state of Georgia approved this project to replicate CECs throughout the state,” said Moore. “The state also tells us they appreciate the involvement of local businesses in designing and evaluating curriculum and giving CEC’s students an educational experience that closely simulates the world of work.” In that spirit, each dissemination site has identified key “stakeholders” from the business community, the regional technical college, and the local K-12 school district who will work together to analyze, design, develop, implement and evaluate a local charter school.