The style of teaching is called Linked Learning. Schools will integrate curriculum from the Cal State and University of California systems with high school class work. For students who do not plan to go to college, job-training education will also be available.
Darrell Parsons with the Department of Education says several schools have already used linked learning to increase exit exam test scores and graduation rates, "Hispanics were seven percent higher than the statewide rate in math and six percent higher in English Language Arts. The graduation rates: 95 percent of California Partnership Academy seniors graduated in the 2009 tenure compared with 85 percent statewide."
Sacramento City Unified and a regional partnership of
Sacramento, Placer, El Dorado, Yuba, Yolo, and Nevada counties
qualified to be part of the program. The pilot program will
run for five years, with data collected along the way to measure
success.