Phone: 703-228-5800
Fax: 703-228-5815
Principal: Margaret Chung,
School hours:
7 a.m. to 10 p.m. weekdays
8 a.m. to 2 p.m. weekends
Office hours: 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays
The Arlington Career Center offers vocational, technical, academic and enrichment programs to high school, middle school, elementary and adult students Monday through Saturday, during the school year, and again during a six-week summer enrichment session. Since all Career Center classes are electives, the Career Center works in close collaboration with all of Arlington's schools and alternative programs.
The Career Center prepares students to realize their potential in a changing technological society. The program helps students develop the skills, knowledge and attitudes that encourage them to become lifelong learners through a collaborative learning environment that promotes individual growth and builds upon each student's strengths, abilities and career interests.
The Career Center is an integral part of the program of studies conducted at each of Arlington's high schools. Career Center courses supplement and enrich the Arlington Public Schools' existing educational programs. The wide variety of curriculum offerings support the state standard and advanced studies diplomas. Both the skills and academic programs prepare students to continue their formal education or directly enter the labor market after high school. Approximately sixty percent of Career Center graduates continue their education at colleges, universities, trade schools and technical institutes.
Through articulation agreements with Northern Virginia Community College, several programs offer college credit for classes taken at the Career Center while students are still in high school. Some programs also offer state and/or local certification for students who successfully complete Career Center classes. Many students take part in a wide variety of field experiences through internships, apprentice, mentor and work-study programs.
Students may schedule vocational/technical and academic courses through their home high school counselors.
Students generally take a school bus from their neighborhood school to the Career Center. Students enrolled only in skills or fundamentals classes return to their high school for the remainder of the school day to take academic classes, have lunch and participate in extracurricular and co-curricular activities.
Some students may elect to take all or part of their academic classes at the Career Center. Through a variety of academic options, students will learn English, Mathematics, Social Studies and Science in a way that relates and applies the subject matter to their elected vocational/technical classes. Students may schedule vocational/technical and academic courses through their home high school guidance counselors.
The Career Center offers educational experiences in more than two dozen areas. Students can learn how to fly airplanes in the aviation technology course; how to rebuild an engine by working on cars in the automotive technology program; how to operate a television camera and produce a program in the television production studio, and how to recover from an athletic injury in a comprehensive program available in physical therapy and sports medicine.
Students gain valuable hands-on experience working in a photographic darkroom, an operating commercial kitchen and a functioning carpentry shop. Students learn how to design their dream homes in a program on architecture, engineering and technical drawing. They learn what it's like to work in the retail industry by participating in the "Classroom on the Mall" partnership with Ballston Commons Mall in central Arlington. Students also learn how to save lives in the emergency medical technology program.
All second and third year programs require successful completion of the previous course(s). Career Center faculty assist students in job placement upon successful completion of their program.
Students also can participate in PRIME (Profession Related Intern-Mentorship Experience.) PRIME, an internship program for gifted high school students, provides students with an opportunity to work as interns in processional organizations that relate to their fields of interest. Students are assigned a mentor with whom they spend 150 hours during the year in addition to attending several two-hour seminars. Students must be sixteen years of age and able to provide their own transportation. Students may also take PRIME in the summer for credit.
Although the Career Center does not offer the same extracurricular programs that the home schools offer, it does have several active chapters of national and state student organizations such as the Distributive Education Clubs of America (DECA), an association for students who study marketing; the Future Homemakers of America(FHA)/HERO, a group studying vocational home economics education; the Virginia Association of Health Occupations Students of America (VA HOSA) and the Vocational Industrial Clubs of America (VICA) for vocational students enrolled in trade, industrial, technical and health education programs.
The Vocational Assessment Program provides a comprehensive picture of a student's vocational interests, aptitudes, employability behaviors and career decision-making skills. Each assessment is highly individualized and varies in length according to a prescriptive program established by the evaluator, the referral source and the student. Following the assessment, a report is prepared which outlines the results of the student's evaluation and provides both short- and long-term recommendations for the vocational and career preparation programs. The assessment program is available to all students with disabilities.
Also available is the CRAM Program (Career Related Academic Modules) which is an alternative educational program for high school students who desire a nontraditional instructional program. It integrates their academic course work with their vocational/technical training for five periods a day. Team teaching and counseling stress personal growth and parental involvement in this program.
The Institute for Career Development and Academic Achievement (The Institute) is designed for the older HILT or HILT X (High Intensity Language Training) students ages 16 to 19. Academic and English skills are given real-world meaning through integration with vocational/technological classes. Students who are selected for the Institute enroll in a two-period integrated block of instruction in reading, writing and speaking. They also take three additional academic credits in mathematics, science and social studies. All students enroll in a vocational skills training program. Students earn credits in all of their courses. These credits count towards a standard high school diploma.
The Experience Based Career Education Program (EBCE) is available to all students with disabilities at the high school level, usually in grades 10 through 12. The program provides students with a combination of academic preparation and unpaid career explorations at experience sites in the community. A typical student's schedule provides two full days of academic instruction and three days of career exploration at an experience site. While in EBCE, students earn academic credit for a high school diploma or certificate.
The job placement and follow-up component is an integral part of comprehensive career development services for students with disabilities. Students enrolled in a specific vocational or technology training programs through the Career Center are provided with job placement services related to their area and level of skill training.
The Interlude Program is designed to be a high school self-contained, special education program with a therapeutic component for students with an emotional disability as part of their identified disability profile. Students choosing to attend this program receive core academic subjects, vocational training, and personal/social skills instruction, with an emphasis on application of skills within the school and community. Students have the opportunity to earn all credits needed toward a regular high school diploma. Transitional services, including access to community services and agencies, are integrated throughout the curriculum to assist students in the transition from school to work upon graduation.
The Enrichment Programs use the Career Center facility to provide a wide variety of special classes not offered at the neighborhood schools. These include the PRIME Program for gifted and talented secondary school students, a Wednesday early release program for students in grades three through five; Saturday programs for students in grades 5 to 12; and a series of three-week summer programs for students from grades 1 through 12.
The Career Center building itself is also unique in several ways. It adjoins the Columbia Pike Branch of the Arlington Public Library, which allows students easy access to a county library in addition to their home school's library. The Culinary Arts Program provides student lunches to individuals and small groups two days a week from their professional kitchen and dining room. The Child Care program runs a preschool in the building. The carpentry class builds sheds, and builds and refinishes furniture. The television production class works with outside clients to produce informational and instructional videos. The Animal Science class takes appointments for bathing and dipping dogs. The Auto Tech program fixes and maintains automobiles for customers. In addition, the Auto Tech and Auto Body repair classes accepted donated vehicles, fix them up and auction them to the public. The Cosmetology Department runs an operational beauty salon and takes appointments.
The Career Center provides educational experiences and training in the following areas: Air Force JROTC Program; animal science; architecture, engineering and technical drawing; aviation; carpentry; color photography; computer technology; CRAM; electricity; emergency medical technology, food service, heating, air conditioning and refrigeration; the Institute for Career Development and Academic Achievement; physical therapy/sports medicine; television production; applied academic and career education; auto body repair; automotive technology; banking, finance and investments; the Classroom on the Mall; commercial art; cosmetology; early childhood education; electronics/engineering; experience based career education; hotel management/travel/tourism; the Interlude Program; occupational training/education for employment; and the Reading Lab.
