The National Academy for Local Schools

Our Specific goals are to:

Increase student achievement, particularly in reading, writing, math, and to build computer skills
Apply organization research theory to improve school capacity.
Establish grant writing partnerships to supplement school budgets.
Establish a teaching and learning system with monthly reports.
Provide effective school based professional development activities, including college credits.
Develop parent-community partnerships.
Establish and arts & academics intervention program for a school.

External Partners
Over 100 Chicago public schools are participating in the External Partners' program. Area colleges, universities and professional organizations applied, through an REP (Request for Proposal) process. External Partners use their expertise and their resources to focus schools toward improved performance on standardized tests. Each partner's program is unique. Some concentrate on the small schools approach, some work with total quality management, some concentrate on primary grades, and others concentrate on, but are not limited to, teacher retraining . The partners are:
Campanile School Services (CSS)

Center for City Schools (CSS) Illinois writing Project National-Louis University

Center for Urban Education (CUE) DePaul University

CPS-Accountability Consultants (CPS-A) Reading Initiatives for High Schools

CPS-Accountability's Direct Instruction Model (ADIM)

Illinois Resource Center (IRC)

Independent Consultant Services (IDP-C)

National Academy for Local Schools (NALS)

National School Services (NSS) I Had A Dream Inc.

Northeastern Illinois University (NE) Interactive Teaching and Learning College of Education

Roosevelt University (ROOS) Chicago Education Alliance

Saint Xavier University (SXU) Reading Improvement Team

School Achievement Structure (SAS) DePaul University

Small Schools Workshop (SmSch) University of Illinois at Chicago

Temple University (TU) Community for Learning Project

**Contact us today to discuss a partnership with your school.**

History
The National Academy for Local Schools was established in 1988 at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina. The original focus was training for local policy makers. The effort received two grants from the Z.Smith Reynolds Foundation in Winston-Salem, North Carolina and a contract with the Southeastern Regional Laboratory of the United States Department of Education.

The Academy moved off campus in 1992 and evolved into a non-profit educational consulting firm that sponsors national conferences, workshops, seminars and works with local school systems in school improvement efforts.

The Academy has been actively involved in the American school reform effort in the 1980's and 1990's:

Project Jump Start-Illinois State Board of Education.

Chicago School Reform Initiative.

Middle School Task Force, NC State Board of Education

Secondary Education Task Force, NC State Board of Education

Site Based Management Task Force, NC State Board of Education

The Academy's school improvement efforts have been successful in low performing inner city and rural schools.

The Academy serves as an External Partner in the Chicago, Illinois School Reform Initiative. The Chicago Sun Times reported May 21, 1998 that the school year achieved 217% improvement in its reading scores as measured by the Iowa Test Basic Skills.

The Academy worked with three schools in three districts in North Carolina from 1996-1998. Each of these three schools received exemplary status as measured by the North Carolina End-of-Grade test.

Letter of Praise
The news is good at Braswell Elementary School this year. Perhaps you have heard that our final North Carolina ABC results show an increased student proficiency level of twenty-two percentage points making us the most improved school in the system. I wanted to share this information with you because I know that the Chicago State University courses we held for teaching assistants on our campus directly impacted our End-of Grade scores. The consistent monitoring and adjusting our teacher assistants did as a required part of their reading courses led to increased performance by their students.

Interesting surprises happen often on new journeys. I must tell you that a serendipity for me was discovering the instructional and personal strengths that reside in each of our teacher assistants. I have a whole new perspective on what they can do to help our students succeed. All of the staff sees them in a new light. I think the assistants are more determined than ever to become certified teachers. I truly believe this inner-city school is in the business of building our own future workforce.

Who can ever forget the trip our CSU students made to Chicago? You were present when we discovered we were a thoroughly committed, bonded team. We are still a team working daily to help Braswell students and to live out the spirit of our mission.

I look forward to more courses arranged by the National Academy for Schools on our campus. The NALS model for school improvement is effective.

Sincerely, Sonja Rounds

Academic Results
Growth data for the 2001-02 school year, based on Spring ITBS test results, reveals real progress at an elementary school in inner city Chicago. 88% of the students for whom we have complete data demonstrated growth (78 of 89 students). 72% of all students, including those with incomplete data, earned scores indicating growth (78 of 108 students). A remarkable 46% of these students grew from 1.1 to 2.8 years in one year's time, and 26% of them grew from .1 to .9 academic years during the school year. Impressively, 22% of the third grade class scored at or above grade level, regardless of their starting point, and 5.6% more were only one-tenth of one point away from achieving at or above grade level scores.

These results show that, although many of these students were far behind to begin the year, most made outstanding progress during the school year. We feel confident that the intervention programs in place contributed significantly to the success of these students. In fact, in the three classrooms in which we provided intensive tutoring services, 41% of the students performed at or above grade level. These classrooms produced 88%, therefore, of all students earning at or above grade level scores. Most impressively, 59% of the students in these classrooms demonstrated academic growth ranging from 1.1 to 2.8 years. The reading tutoring program we prescribed for these students at the end of last year resulted in remarkable progress from these students.

Click here to review the complete program analysis for 2001-2001 school year.