NAF (non-profit organization)

NAF is an industry-sponsored nonprofit organization with a United-States-based network of public-private partnerships that support career academies within traditional high schools. Each academy focuses on a theme that addresses the anticipated future needs of local industry and the community it serves in five major "college prep plus" fields of study that encourage and facilitate college preparation and technical training on career paths in finance, hospitality and tourism, information technology (IT), engineering, and health sciences.

The program is designed to build a work-ready future workforce by emphasizing STEM-related industry-specific curricula in the classroom and work-based learning experience, including summer internships. NAF has created career academies in 620 high schools in high-need communities in the contiguous United States and its territories since 1980.

Numerous studies of the NAF model have concluded that "sustained, quality employer involvement in education is possible," in "low-socioeconomic and high-risk backgrounds." Other research also credits the work-study model with promoting successful equity and inclusion.

Program

Characterized as "schools within schools," NAF academies serve a small community of students who are "organized as a cohort over their four years of high school" Academy teachers are typically skilled in both academic and the technical knowledge of the field in which the academy is focused. They are provided support with NAF professional development, training and curricula that integrates "core subject area content, career-themed content or technical education under a specified theme" ... based on NAF's input, that of CTE (Career Technical Education) and the local labor markets.

Summer internships of about six to eight weeks are a focal point of the academy programs, and usually pay the students for their work. Seniors in the program combine work-based learning with corresponding curricular activities to learn more about the industry, and to "explore careers, plan for college, and develop their social and interpersonal skills."

History

thumb|[[Sanford I. Weill|Sanford Weill, NAF founder and chairman, photographed in 2007.]]In 1980, the first Academy of Finance opened in John Dewey High School in Brooklyn, New York, after the New York City Board of Education accepted Sanford I. Weill's proposal to address the disconnect between the need for skilled workforce talent and the lack of opportunity for young people in New York City by creating a public-private partnership in high schools that exposed young people to genuine career skills that traditional schools don't offer. In one high-profile example, it partnered with United Technologies in 2020, launching two $3 million engineering academies in high schools in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico.

{| class="wikitable" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; border: none;

|+NAF National Academy Network

!Foundation Date

!Academy Theme

!Total Number

|1980

|Academy of Finance

|193

|1987

|Hospitality and Tourism

|88

|2000

|Information Technology

|120

|2007

|Engineering

|93

|2011/12

|Health Science

|86

|Other

|40

| colspan="2" |In 2020, NAF served 112,208 students in 37 states, Washington D.C., the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.

|Total = 620

Outcomes

There have been significant reports and statistics on the outcome of students from NAF's Career Academies. Milton Chen, author of Education Nation and former executive director for the George Lucas Educational Foundation, sums up the most recent reports:

Graduates of NAF institutes earn on average of 11% more per year in the eight years after graduation than non-academy students.
More than 90% of NAF students graduate high school, even though academies are located in urban areas where the average high school graduation rate is 50%.
More than 50% of NAF's high school graduates earn bachelor's degrees in four years while the national average is only 32%.

In 2002, the first set of Career Academies outside the U.S. were set up in the United Kingdom by Career Academies UK, affiliated with NAF.

Academies

Academy of Engineering
Academy of Finance
Academy of Hospitality and Tourism
Academy of Information Technology
Academy of Health Sciences

Academy of Finance

The Academy of Finance (AOF) is an American educational program first established in 1982 by the NAF. It offers high school students an opportunity to study accounting, international trade, leadership, and the use of technology in preparing for college and the financial services industry.

NAF was created by Phyllis Frankfort, the Director of the Academy of Finance, in 1989. In 1981, she designed a program for the New York City Department of Education and for Shearson Lehman Brothers chaired by Sanford I. Weill. Her proposal for the "Institute for the Study of Finance" recommended a program for public high school students. Weill gave $100,000 to develop the program through Lehman Brothers' foundation, headed by D. Topol, which was matched by the New York City Board of Education. Frankfort designed and implemented the program and the first Academy of Finance opened at John Dewey High School in Brooklyn in 1982 with 35 students and grew to more than two hundred in 1984.