Naftrack Certification vs. Academy Assessment '23-'24: Decoding Differences
Starting in the 2023-2024 school year, NAFTrack Certification is moving forward with new requirements. But don't worry, it's a simple shift designed to make the process easy for academies, educators, and students. You can learn more about the change on this page: With this change, we are also opening up a new option in the Academy Assessment for the 2023-2024 school year and we want to be sure that there isn’t any confusion. First, the new requirements for NAFTrack Certification for the class of 2024 are as follows:
Enrolled in a career connected program of study (as captured in the Data Collection form in the Fall of 2023)
Participate in a WBL Preparation (Internship) Activity of at least 80 hours
You might be thinking “that’s pretty simple”? Yes, it is! We are trying to make the shift easy for both academies, educators and students. And, we will gradually shift to more requirements for each class in the future:
The class of 2025 will be all of the above PLUS one WBL activity from either Awareness or Exploration
The class of 2026 will be required to complete 3 WBL Activities, one from each category of Awareness, Exploration and Preparation.
That’s the requirement for NAFTrack Certification, but the Academy Assessment questions are a little bit different. For the 2023-2024 school year, question 4.2b on the Academy Assessment provides 2 options as listed on the graphic below.
This requirement is SEPARATE from NAFTrack Certification. We want to make the path simple for your students to be NAFTrack Certified and at the same time continue to set the bar high for those academies wishing to be Model or Distinguished. So, the requirement for this threshold in the Academy Assessment will be the percentage of students in the class of 2023 (remember, the Academy Assessment looks at the past year’s graduating class) that completed 2 or more WBL activities and those activities are entered into the WBL Tracker. If you are unsure how to capture these activities, resources can be found on this page: https://ash.naf.org/public/wbl/tracker-resources
If you have any questions, reach out to support by clicking the yellow question mark on the bottom right in ASH and add a ticket. Our support team is ready to answer your questions and connect you with the right person. Get ready for a new and exciting era of NAFTrack Certification!
