Admissions:

FormalInterview Questions

Applicant Review – Readiness Sheet

The following questions will be asked during the Interview. Please send supporting documents that you may have created prior to the time of your interview. All letters of support (question 10) need to be loaded prior to scheduling your interview.

  1. Why do you want to pursue a NAF academy at this time at this school site/district?

How will the school will benefit from an academy? What outcomes to you expect to see for your students? What outcomes to you expect to see in your community?

  1. Please provide us with a description of the school district, school site and the community. We would like to know a demographic overview of the community, the district and the school population.

What is the academic performance of your school: graduation rates, population, ethnic representation, and academic performance? NAF requires an open enrollment process, (no screening process at school or district level) to recruiting students, do you have any issues with that at the district or school site level?

  1. The success of our educational design is partly due to the ability to enroll 50-75 students per grade level or a minimum 200 students in a 4 year academy. Do you think this is attainable in you school? Talk about your recruitment plans and the number of students you expect to enroll in your academy. Discuss the length of time students will be in your academy.
  1. Who is on your design team? Talk about their roles and expectations. Who is missing from your design team? What are your outreach efforts to fill the in the missing roles? How will you involve parent, student and higher education?

Tell us about the business partner(s) on your design team and others that are involved in your school? How is higher education involved with your school? What are the current articulation agreements you have with higher education?

  1. How will your core academics and counselors support this academy? What are the expectations for core and counselors from administration in regard to the academies? Do you currently use PBL, or do any inter-disciplinary teaching; integration?
  1. How do you identify students at risk? What kinds of supports/interventions programs do you offer? What is your plan for a student who wants to be in the academy and needs remediation?
  1. To what degree is school administration supportive of academies?
  • How will school leadership be involved with this academy?
  • Is the school administration willing to provide release time for an academy director?
  • Are you willing to cohort students and/or have interdisciplinary teams?
  • Are you willing to provide release time for teachers to discuss the academy and the student performance issues?
  • NAF provides and requires attendance at its yearly conference, do foresee any problems with attending this?
  • Are you willing to incorporate NAF courses into the master schedule?
  1. How does your school improvement plan address college and career readiness? How does your school improvement plan relate to your district goals and state mandates? What role do you see starting an academy play in helping to meet school improvement goals
  1. Have you identified financial resources to cover Start up fees and ongoing annual membership fee?
  1. In the application guide you are prompted to do the following: upload letters to the application center. You must complete this process prior to scheduling your interview. Provide 3-5 letters of support from your partners. A letter from the district indicating support of this initiative is required. This letter should indicate a desire to support the program upon inception as well as a clear willingness to participate in planning activities in partnership with the school. At least one letter should be from a business partner, college or university, local intermediary organization, government agency, or community partner.

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