The Healthcare Career Advancement Academy (CAA), a collaboration of community college professionals, including East Los Angeles College (ELAC), Los Angeles City College (LACC), and Los Angeles Valley College (LAVC), along with the Los Angeles Healthcare Workforce Development Program, has developed and tested a core curriculum to train entry-level healthcare employees. The approach is employer-driven and learner-centered – to prepare candidates for successful careers in healthcare.

The mission of the Career Advancement Academy at Los Angeles City College is to bridge the learning gap by assisting a diversified population of students that share a common interest in pursuing professional careers in healthcare and supplying them with academic support through the integration of contextualize curriculum for remedial learning skills in an effort to improve scholastic success at a vocational training institution.

Why contextualize developmental academic subjects?

Contextualization fosters learning by linking academics to real-life contexts the students will be exposed to while working in the healthcare field. By creating a learning environment that represents academic material relatable to real-life scenarios, students are able to develop strategies to implement their newly learned skills for tasks relevant in their lives beyond the classroom and into the workforce. Thus, this technique enhances the students’ learning retention and strengthens their comprehension with the academic material being presented during class time.

CAA Process Flow Chart [Word doc: 41KB]