The purpose of this phenomenological study is to understand how graduates of college and career academy (CCA) high schools perceive the influence of the non-traditional educational program on career readiness for participants in a local school district in northern Georgia. The central research question guiding the study is as follows: How do graduates perceive the lived experience of developing career readiness through their participation in the CCA model of secondary education? The theory guiding this study is the Social Cognitive Career Theory developed by Lent, Brown, and Hackett in 1994. The theory has its origins in Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory. To connect to the topic of CCA education, the researcher sought to explain the processes through which children and adolescents made meaning of their social experiences regarding career choice, goals, and persistence. Data was collected through lesson plan evaluations, individual participant interviews, and focus group interviews. Data were analyzed using inductive coding to identify themes and patterns among participant responses, and to make meaning of the lived experiences of the participants
