The National Academy Foundation (NAF) is a national network of high school career academies based predominately in urban districts. NAF Academies are schools within schools that have rigorous, career-themed curricula created through partnerships between industry and education. More than 90 percent of NAF Academy students graduate from high school, compared to 50 percent in urban areas where most Academies exist. Four out of five graduates pursue some type of postsecondary education.
Level 3—NAF Academies have a positive influence on school attendance and increase high-school seniors’ college-going confidence and aspirations.
The National Academy Foundation’s Career Academies: Shaping Postsecondary Transitions (IES Working Paper No. 17, February 2004). Seniors in 10 NAF Academies were 16 percent more likely than non-Academy seniors to apply and be accepted to a four-year college. Academy seniors were also significantly more likely to undertake college planning actions than the comparison group. (Note: The Academy of Finance is over-represented in this study.)