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Our Approach

The NAF Design

Academy Development & Structure

NAF academies are structured as small, focused learning communities that fit within and enhance high school systems, allowing NAF to become an integral part of a plan for higher achievement at low cost. NAF promotes open enrollment for its academies in order to maximize every student’s chance at a successful future. The flexible structure encourages teacher collaboration across subject areas and fosters personalization to meet student, school, district, and state needs and goals.

Curriculum & Instruction

NAF provides rigorous, career-focused curricula that incorporate current industry standards and practices, project-based learning, and performance-based assessment. NAF empowers teachers to expand the classroom boundaries by exposing students to real-world issues in career-focused industries through connections with industry professionals and the business community. Students acquire essential workplace skills and 21st-century competencies to be future-ready for college and career.

NAF’s Program of Study embraces the US Department of Education’s 16 career clusters and provides curricular options for students to achieve NAFTrack Certification, NAF’s employability credential that serves as NAF’s seal of college and career readiness. NAF academies offer multiple career pathways and enhance the academic rigor of their program of study by applying for dual enrollment/early college and state-approved, career-cluster courses to meet the curricular requirements of NAFTrack Certification.

Advisory Board

NAF advisory boards provide an essential bridge between schools and the workplace. Businesspeople and community leaders volunteer on local advisory boards to play an active role in developing their future workforce by shaping talent in high school. Advisory board members collaborate with educators to inform curricula and help organize work-based learning activities. Advisory boards give students the opportunity to build relationships with mentors early and learn from successful adults.

Work-Based Learning

Work-based learning brings the classroom to the workplace and the workplace to the classroom. This instructional strategy provides students with a well-rounded skill set that goes beyond academics and includes the soft skills needed to succeed in college and the working world. NAF’s approach to work-based learning is centered on a continuum of work-based learning experiences beginning with career awareness activities, progressing to career exploration activities, and culminating in career preparation activities, including internships. Businesspeople guest speak in classrooms, host college and career skills workshops, and take part in mock interviews. Students have the opportunity to tour worksites, network with, and shadow business professionals. Work-based learning culminates in an internship that allows students to apply their classroom skills and learn more about what it takes to succeed.

A Guide for Parents and Guardians

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