The JROTC (Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps) Career Academy Program is a unique and innovative enterprise joining together the experience and resources of the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) and the U.S. Department of Education (DoED). JROTC Career Academies represent a partnership among the DoD, the DoED, individual school districts, and the business community. The program personalizes instruction through schools-within-schools and provides the leadership and vocational and academic training that youth at risk of dropping out of school need to compete in a changing global economy. As a new partner in career academies, JROTC brings a long history of developing skills in leadership, self-discipline, and citizenship in high school students. The JROTC Career Academy Program emphasizes high school graduation through academic instruction; critical skills development through a career field focus; and citizenship, leadership, responsibility, values, and discipline through the JROTC course of instruction. This guidebook is designed as a planning aid for districts participating in the program. It describes the academy model and the roles of various participants, and provides an implementation timeline and a bibliography, as well as a brief list of useful, related reports published by the National Center for Research in Vocational Education (NCRVE).