During the 1991-1992 school year, Mission Bay High School of San Diego was one of the thirty California Investment High Schools. Chosen because of their innovative approaches and their dedication, the faculty set out to test various alternatives for improving educational climate at their campus. Piloting the school-within-a school concept (also known as houses or clusters) they assigned 100 students to a "house" which was team taught. This pilot not only enabled teachers to give more attention to each individual but also to develop a feeling of community and commitment among students.

Evaluating the results, school Counselor and Magnet Coordinator Steve Stangland reported: "During our year as an Investment High School our pilot group of 100 students had better attendance, higher grades, reduced dropout and fewer suspensions." Therefore, at the end of the year's experiment, all staff made a commitment to restructure with or without additional funds. As a consequence, the entire 9th grade is now divided into four houses and teams. Because the Career Choices program contributed significantly to the success of the pilot project, that curriculum has bee adopted for use throughout the 9th grade.

Joan Yost, English teacher and 9th grade team member, reported that her English, math and socials studies team has decided to use Career Choices in an interdisciplinary way. "I presented the first three chapters. The math teacher presents Chapter Four, the budget chapter, while I teach the vocabulary component. Then the social studies teacher takes the lead on Chapter Five." Asked what she thought of the new curriculum, Yost enthusiastically responded, "I've shared information about Career Choices with friends at other schools because I think it is so terrific! And as I told the parents at our open house, I wish I had had this when I was growing up." While first year funding for Career Choices was provided by a Carl Perkins grant, second year funding came from school discretionary funds.