Policy Brief - College and Career Academy for Richmond County Board of Education

Feasibility of Repurposing the Josey–Murphey Campus into a Districtwide College & Career Academy While Preserving Comprehensive High School Functions

Prepared from a Workforce and Economic Development Systems Perspective

Executive Summary

Richmond County School System’s current plan contemplates repurposing the Josey–Murphey campus into a districtwide College & Career Academy (CCA) serving grades 9–12 as a choice program, while maintaining comprehensive high school functions including athletics. Public communications indicate that T.W. Josey students and staff would remain together during a multi-year transition period in the Murphey facility, and that the academy is projected to open in the 2029–30 school year. This proposal raises a feasibility question that is more structural than aspirational: whether a choice-based, districtwide CCA can reliably deliver credential-bearing outcomes while simultaneously functioning as a comprehensive high school in the GHSA environment, and whether the current sequencing and governance assumptions are sufficiently defined to ensure success. The analysis also considers the regulatory implications of Targeted Support and Improvement (TSI) status and the strategic role of existing district CTE infrastructure as a validation platform prior to permanent conversion.

Georgia has mature examples of CCAs that demonstrate how governance design, technical college integration, and phased operational validation tend to precede sustained success (Technical College System of Georgia [TCSG], 2020; Georgia Public Policy Foundation, 2023). Those models are instructive because they reflect implementation realities, not merely facility investment. Peer-reviewed longitudinal evaluations of career academies similarly show that strong labor market outcomes are associated with authentic employer engagement and structured career pathways rather than branding alone (Kemple & Willner, 2008). The analysis below benchmarks the Josey concept against those conditions and identifies the operational constraints most likely to determine success or failure.

Georgia’s CCA Model as an Implementation Benchmark

In Georgia, the College & Career Academy model has expanded over decades as a workforce development strategy, and it is organized and supported through a statewide network designed to connect academies, their governing boards, and community partners (TCSG, 2020). The Georgia College & Career Academy Network’s bylaws describe the model as explicitly governance-oriented, focused on supporting boards and partnerships in delivering workforce-aligned education through the academy structure (TCSG, 2020). This emphasis reflects what implementation research consistently identifies as a predictor of durable institutional reform: governance clarity and defined operating systems (Fixsen et al., 2005; Bryk et al., 2015).

The statewide growth of CCAs and their policy structure has also been documented in independent reviews, which describe academies as a popular and expanded model intended to benefit both students and local economies by aligning learning with workforce needs (Georgia Public Policy Foundation, 2023). However, the same research literature emphasizes that success depends on operational depth, including instructor qualifications, employer engagement, and pathway coherence (Symonds et al., 2011).

Case evidence from established Georgia academies supports the same conclusion. Central Educational Center (CEC) in Coweta County describes itself as a joint venture among business and industry, the Coweta County School System, and West Georgia Technical College, noting that a public steering committee planned the partnership for several years (Central Educational Center, n.d.). That description illustrates that early-stage governance formation and partner alignment were treated as prerequisites to scale. West Georgia Technical College identifies the CEC site as part of its institutional footprint, reinforcing the structural integration between secondary and postsecondary systems (West Georgia Technical College, n.d.).

Houston College & Career Academy similarly reflects long-term structural evolution. District documentation identifies the academy as connected to Central Georgia Technical College and operating through partnership structures rather than isolation (Houston County Schools, n.d.). A separate academy profile emphasizes dual enrollment participation for upper grades, demonstrating postsecondary integration as a core design element (Houston College & Career Academy, n.d.).

Georgia CCA planning artifacts further demonstrate that phased development is a recognized practice. A TCSG-hosted quarterly report on Ignite College and Career Academy describes “two planning years” and references governance formation and board structuring prior to full operations (TCSG, 2019). This sequencing aligns with implementation science findings that institutional change benefits from staged validation before scale (Fixsen et al., 2005).

Collectively, these cases establish a practical benchmark: Georgia CCAs that sustain workforce outcomes tend to emerge from deliberate partner governance, planning horizons that precede expansion, and defined delivery mechanisms for credentials and postsecondary integration.

Turnaround Status Constraints Under Georgia Department of Education Regulations

An additional structural consideration in evaluating the feasibility of converting T.W. Josey High School into a districtwide College & Career Academy is the school’s designation on Georgia’s Targeted Support and Improvement (TSI) list.

Under the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), states are required to identify schools for Targeted Support and Improvement when specific student subgroups consistently underperform (Georgia Department of Education [GaDOE], 2023). Once identified as a TSI school, the district is required to develop and implement an evidence-based improvement plan addressing subgroup performance, instructional quality, and measurable academic growth. These plans must be monitored and approved through state accountability structures.

The Georgia Department of Education’s school improvement framework requires that TSI-designated schools demonstrate continuous progress toward exiting status through defined improvement cycles (GaDOE, 2023). Structural reconfiguration of a school, including significant governance changes, attendance zone dissolution, or programmatic redesign, intersects with accountability obligations. While state guidance does not prohibit transformation, districts must ensure that improvement plans remain compliant with federal and state accountability requirements during any transition.

In practical terms, this creates several feasibility considerations. First, if Josey is undergoing federally monitored subgroup improvement obligations, the district must demonstrate how conversion to a choice-based academy will strengthen, rather than disrupt, subgroup performance outcomes. Second, conversion during an active TSI cycle requires clarity regarding how accountability metrics will transfer during the transition years, including how subgroup data will be tracked if attendance boundaries dissolve. Third, evidence-based intervention requirements under ESSA emphasize validated instructional strategies; therefore, any academy model implemented during TSI status must be demonstrably aligned with evidence-based improvement practices (U.S. Department of Education, 2018).

Because TSI status is tied to subgroup performance and accountability reporting structures, large-scale institutional redesign without a clearly documented transition plan may introduce regulatory risk. If the proposed academy model alters enrollment composition through districtwide choice admissions, the district must specify how subgroup accountability will be preserved, how improvement benchmarks will be met during construction and transition years, and how the academy structure will accelerate exit from TSI designation.

Accordingly, the presence of TSI designation does not automatically preclude innovation, but it does elevate the standard of proof. The district must articulate how the conversion aligns with, and strengthens, the school improvement plan required under state and federal law, rather than interrupting it.

The Josey Proposal as a Hybrid Model and Its Feasibility Constraints

The Josey plan attempts to combine districtwide choice enrollment, comprehensive high school programming, and athletics within a single institutional structure. While not impossible, this hybrid model increases operational dependency. Research on career academies indicates that labor market gains are tied to authentic pathway coherence and employer-connected instruction rather than to structural rebranding alone (Kemple & Willner, 2008; Symonds et al., 2011). This structural layering becomes more complex when accountability obligations under federal and state improvement designations are also active, as institutional redesign intersects with mandated performance targets.

Credential-bearing delivery requires instructor qualification alignment, dual enrollment integration, and testing infrastructure that typically depend on technical college partnership agreements (TCSG, 2020). Georgia’s CCA examples show that these systems are secured through governance design and formal agreements, not assumed as downstream details.

Additionally, the model depends on transportation and participation patterns. Empirical research indicates that longer commute times are associated with measurable academic impacts (Cordes et al., 2022). Choice-based enrollment models are sensitive to transportation feasibility and after-school access, which can influence participation rates and equity outcomes. Therefore, enrollment sustainability for a districtwide academy cannot be evaluated independently of transportation modeling.

GHSA Constraints as an Operational Limitation

The Georgia High School Association (GHSA) Constitution and By-Laws establish eligibility rules related to service areas, transfers, and enrollment (GHSA, 2025–2026). When attendance zones shift or schools transition to choice-based structures, eligibility dynamics may change.

District advisories across Georgia routinely clarify that transfers outside districted attendance areas can affect GHSA eligibility (Cobb County School District, n.d.). Therefore, a choice-based comprehensive academy must align admissions and service area design with GHSA constraints to preserve competitive continuity.

Because athletic identity is a stated priority within the Josey transition, GHSA compliance should be treated as an operational dependency requiring forward-looking modeling rather than reactive interpretation.

Feasibility Assessment

When benchmarked against Georgia’s CCA ecosystem and supported by peer-reviewed research, the Josey plan faces constraints that are not inherently fatal but are structurally decisive. Successful CCAs demonstrate governance alignment, technical college integration, employer engagement, and phased operational readiness (TCSG, 2020; Central Educational Center, n.d.; Kemple & Willner, 2008).

Implementation science literature cautions that scaling institutional reform before systems are validated increases the likelihood of underperformance (Fixsen et al., 2005; Bryk et al., 2015). If governance integration, credential delivery systems, transportation feasibility, and GHSA compliance modeling are not clearly defined prior to campus repurposing, institutional risk increases. Given the district’s existing technical education infrastructure and its proximity to a TCSG partner institution, readiness validation can occur within a structurally aligned environment prior to comprehensive high school conversion. Sequencing institutional expansion in this manner is consistent with Georgia CCA precedent and implementation science principles (TCSG, 2019; Fixsen et al., 2005).

Recommendation

A prudent path forward is to treat the Josey plan as contingent upon verifiable readiness rather than as a fixed construction sequence. The district can preserve Josey as a comprehensive high school while still pursuing the academy concept by adopting a staged approach consistent with Georgia’s CCA development patterns (TCSG, 2019; Central Educational Center, n.d.). Implementation research supports phased validation before irreversible expansion (Fixsen et al., 2005).

In this staged approach, Richmond County Technical Career Magnet (RCTCM) should serve as the formal validation environment for credential delivery, governance integration, and postsecondary alignment. Because RCTCM is physically located on the campus of Augusta Technical College, it is structurally positioned to model the technical college partnership, instructor-of-record alignment, dual enrollment integration, and credential testing infrastructure characteristic of Georgia’s strongest CCAs (TCSG, 2020). Rather than converting a legacy comprehensive high school into the pilot site, the district can strengthen and document operational readiness within RCTCM, using measurable outcomes such as credential attainment rates, dual enrollment throughput, employer advisory participation, and enrollment stability as readiness benchmarks.

Only after these systems demonstrate sustained performance should permanent conversion of Josey proceed. This sequencing aligns institutional expansion with validated delivery capacity and reduces the risk of replicating facility-centered reform without fully operationalized credential systems.

Concurrently, GHSA impact modeling should be conducted to ensure that service area definitions and admissions mechanics sustain athletic eligibility continuity over multiple academic cycles (GHSA, 2025–2026). Because the proposed academy structure blends choice enrollment with comprehensive athletics, eligibility modeling must be incorporated into readiness criteria rather than addressed reactively.

Under this sequencing model, Josey remains a comprehensive high school unless and until the operational architecture required for a true Georgia CCA, governance integration, credential delivery systems, enrollment sustainability, transportation feasibility, and GHSA compliance, is fully defined, tested at RCTCM, and producing measurable outputs. This approach aligns with implementation science, Georgia precedent, and fiscal risk mitigation principles while preserving the institutional integrity of a legacy high school.

References

Bryk, A. S., Gomez, L. M., Grunow, A., & LeMahieu, P. G. (2015). Learning to improve: How America’s schools can get better at getting better. Harvard Education Press. https://hep.gse.harvard.edu/9781612507910/learning-to-improve

Central Educational Center. (n.d.). Frequently asked questions. https://www.centraleducationalcenter.net/en-US/frequently-asked-questions-2ec20a75

Cobb County School District. (n.d.). Information for parents concerning GHSA eligibility when considering transfer. https://media.cobbk12.org/media/WWWCobb/medialib/ghsatransfereligibility.45e12f36977.pdf

Cordes, S. A., Rick, C., & Schwartz, A. E. (2022). Do long bus rides drive down academic outcomes? Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 44(4), 689–716. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1355933.pdf

Fixsen, D. L., Naoom, S. F., Blase, K. A., Friedman, R. M., & Wallace, F. (2005). Implementation research: A synthesis of the literature. National Implementation Research Network. https://nirn.fpg.unc.edu/resource/implementation-research-a-synthesis-of-the-literature

Georgia Department of Education. (2023). School improvement supports: Comprehensive, targeted, and additional targeted support. https://gadoe.org/School-Improvement/Pages/default.aspx

Georgia High School Association. (2025–2026). GHSA constitution and by-laws. https://www.ghsa.net/constitution-2025-2026-ghsa-constitution-and-by-laws

Georgia Public Policy Foundation. (2023). Report on Georgia’s college and career academies. https://www.georgiapolicy.org/publications/report-on-georgias-college-and-career-academies/

Houston College & Career Academy. (n.d.). About the school. https://hcca.hcbe.net/abouttheschool

Houston County Schools. (n.d.). Houston College & Career Academy. https://www.hcbe.net/hcca

Kemple, J. J., & Willner, C. J. (2008). Career academies: Long-term impacts on labor market outcomes. MDRC. https://www.educationandemployers.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/career-academies-long-term-impacts-kemple.pdf

Symonds, W. C., Schwartz, R., & Ferguson, R. (2011). Pathways to prosperity. Harvard Graduate School of Education. http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:4740480

Technical College System of Georgia. (2019). Ignite College and Career Academy quarterly report (Q1 2019). https://www.tcsg.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Ignite-CCA-Report-Q1-2019.pdf

Technical College System of Georgia. (2020). Georgia College & Career Academy Network bylaws. https://www.tcsg.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/FY21-GCCAN-BYLAWS.pdf

U.S. Department of Education. (2018). A state’s guide to evidence under ESSA. https://www2.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/essa/guidanceuseseinvestment.pdf

West Georgia Technical College. (n.d.). Central Educational Center site. https://www.westgatech.edu/cec-site/