Inequality in academic, financial, and social outcomes for children in the United States has grown over the past decade. Interest by policymakers in strengthening social and economic mobility has focused on points of transition in students' life trajectories. A key transition point is the shift from secondary school to postsecondary pursuits, including college and work. Though much recent discussion has centered on college-going and improving the "match" between a student and an institution, many students never confront college choices because they fail to complete high school. This paper focuses on one part of the dual-goal of modern career academies: the capacity to improve students' transitions from high school to some form of postsecondary training. The authors examine the causal effects of participation in a contemporary career academy on measures of high school performance, course-taking, engagement, and graduation, as well as on postsecondary enrollment and choice. To do so, the authors use administrative data from the Wake County Public School System (WCPSS), the largest district in the state of North Carolina, and exploit the fact that enrollees in one particular career academy, the Academy of Information Technology (AOIT) within Apex High School, were admitted by lottery. The authors employ data on a total of four cohorts of applicants whose on-time high school graduation time-points range from 2012-2013 to 2015-2016. In 2013, AOIT was recognized by the National Academy Foundation (NAF) as an "academy of excellence." Thus, while focused on one academy, the study of this career academy will serve as a severe test: that is, if the authors find little effects of participation in a modern career academy with well-developed program components and solid implementation on outcomes of interest, the authors should be skeptical that less well-developed programs would lead to meaningful effects. [SREE documents are structured abstracts of SREE conference symposium, panel, and paper or poster submissions.]