In 1992, the U.S. Department of Defense and U.S. Department of Education jointly developed the Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps (JROTC) Career Academy model, which provides a framework for implementation of an innovative vocational education program designed to keep dropout-prone students in school. The program, which combines military training with special schools-within-schools, was implemented at nine high schools across the United States. A case study approach was used to examine the progress made by the nine schools in implementing the eight components of the JROTC Career Academy model and to identify ways of improving the program. The study's key conclusions were as follows: (1) the JROTC career academies made fair progress toward implementation of the model; (2) reforms in instructional practices developed more slowly than structural reforms; (3) school leadership played a major role in successful implementation; (4) lack of formal agreements between the program's sponsors and the school districts and between the districts and the schools hindered implementation from the outset; and (5) lack of expenditure guidelines hindered long-term program sustainment. (Seventeen tables/figures are included. Profiles of the participating districts and schools and a table detailing implementation progress by component and year are appended. The bibliography contains 56 references.) (MN)