The Pearson Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Pearson PLC, the global media and education company, has announced a $1 million grant to the National Academy Foundation in New York City to expand professional development and support for teachers and administrators at NAF career-themed public school academies.

Founded in 1982 as a partnership between business leaders and educators, NAF is a national network of high school academies, predominately in urban school districts, that expose students to opportunities through career-focused curricula and paid internships. NAF students develop their own portfolios, manage projects, and employ skills needed to succeed in the workplace.

Launched with a grant from the California-based Pearson Foundation in 2008, the NAF Collaboration Network initiative supports expanded training designed to help NAF teachers collaborate on the development, extension, and implementation of programs the foundation has been co-developing with NAF since 2006. The most recent grant will help train more than a thousand NAF high school teachers via regional in-person sessions and enhanced online training, preparing them to implement new curricula for students in specific career areas such as hospitality and tourism, information technology, finance, and engineering.

"With this grant, NAF will be able to continue to extend the expertise of its most important asset — the teachers who each day help to shape the lives of more than fifty thousand young people across the United States," said Pearson Foundation president Mark Nieker. "Since beginning our partnership with NAF...we've seen first-hand [that] developing a great model that supports kids and then replicating the model through deliberate, scaled training of teachers and administrators, is one of the most effective ways to ensure equal access to a great education for all children."