KnoPro is Here! NAF Launches New, FREE Digital Tool, to Revolutionize Work-Based Learning! 

As a former high school teacher, I know first-hand how time consuming it can be to find or create engaging materials for students that prepare them for life after high school (and not just a standardized test) and cover the skills they need to succeed. For busy teachers with the weight of the world on their shoulders, there often just isn’t enough time to innovate the way that students deserve. After over a decade working in CTE and career-focused schools across the country, I’ve partnered with my team at NAF to create a new, FREE real-world projects platform, called KnoPro that I truly believe can change the game for high school students and teachers all across the United States.

With a heightened national focus on work-based learning and earlier career preparation for high school students, it also comes at a perfect time!

Here’s the deal: KnoPro enables high school students to gain professional experience in a way like never before. In partnership with industry leaders and corporations, this interactive tool offers any high school-grade student (i.e. students learning at 9th to 12th grade level) the opportunity to tackle real-world problems faced by business leaders, receive expert feedback from industry mentors, grow their professional skills and resumes, and more – with the chance to win cash and other prizes!

Even better? High school students on NAF’s Student Advisory Council collaborated on the design and playtesting of KnoPro. From the very beginning, student and teacher voices have been at the center of what makes KnoPro so unique and effective for high schools across the country. 

Here’s what students and teachers can expect:

• Challenges are monthly competitions where students can participate on a team or solo—in school or out!—where big money is on the line, just by helping solve a pressing industry or community problem. The first challenge, sponsored by long-standing NAF partner, Lenovo, called the Future Ready Tech Challenge, kicked off on October 2^nd! 
• Daily SkillBuilders are fun, 10-15 minute real-world activities designed to increase students’ “future ready” skills, including critical thinking, collaboration, and communication, and earn them points and prizes.

And for professionals and corporations, they can expect:

• Mentorship opportunities: Become a KnoPro mentor or competition judge and share your experience and insights with students across the country.
• Partner opportunities: NAF works with large corporations, small businesses, and nonprofits, to identify real problems their industry is facing, build engaging content, and tap into the creativity of young minds to be a part of the solution.

These experiences help students build both technical and future ready skills that continue to be requested by employers across industry lines, and are not only important for high school students, but for other employees to be exposed to potential job opportunities within their organization, and to continue as lifelong learners.

Don’t just take my word for it. A KnoPro pilot teacher also shared, “I would recommend KnoPro 100%. I like that it’s open to everybody. I love that KnoPro provides my students with creative ways to solve problems. I appreciate how they could incorporate technology into other fields like Health or Finance. KnoPro enables students to explore their career ambitions.”

As we like to say at NAF, “If you know, you KnoPro!” Watch the video to learn more about KnoPro and visit knopro.org.