S.C.H.O.O.L.S.
Led by Dr. Valencia Belle, one of Business Alabama Magazine’s 23 Women in Tech for 2023 and an ACT Certified Educator, the SCHOOLS ACT and SAT Prep Intensives average composite score increases of +5 - 10 ACT points and +100 - 200 SAT points after completing the 5-week Full Intensive. Classes are taught worldwide both onsite and online by SCHOOLS (c) Certified Educators.
Dr. Belle’s signature test prep methodology - the Belle Academic Currency Methodology (c) - with its critical thinking strategies and proven ability to eradicate intergenerational poverty from student loan debt with one test score, has been endorsed by Harvard, MIT, USC, and Wharton.
SCHOOLS was twice featured in 2021 by the Wharton Business School as 1 of 6 global Inaugural Knowledge for Impact Award winners. Our innovative Ed Tech ACT/SAT composite score increase work, which decreased inter-generational poverty for three generations for first-generation college students from marginalized communities with one test score, was highlighted. In 2022, SCHOOLS won the Alabama Launchpad’s Social Impact Seed Round Competition hosted by the EDPA. In addition, in 2023, SCHOOLS was chosen as one of the top 200 early-stage Ed Tech startups in the world for disruption and innovation, earning inclusion as a Semi-Finalist in the coveted ASU+GSV “Elite 200” G Cup Pitch Competition.
SCHOOLS was chosen by MIT as one of the top 40 US solutions in 2023 to address the MIT Gender Equity in STEM Challenge. Dr. Belle was awarded the prestigious B Corp global certification as a benefit corporation, and is the first BIPOC, Female-Led B Corp in the State of Alabama! Her transformative social impact work was featured as an Expert Panelist at the 2023 BLD Southeast Conference.
SCHOOLS begins ACT/SAT Prep as early as 3rd Grade to enable students to engage in early identification programs such as those hosted by Cornell, Duke, Johns Hopkins, Harvard, Stanford, Vanderbilt, and Yale!
As a Scientist and Entrepreneur who has spent her career helping to shape young minds by opening up the possibilities of “STEM” careers in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math, Dr. Belle is one of six inaugural recipients worldwide of the prestigious 2021 Wharton Knowledge For Impact Awards from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business, as well as a 2019 Scholarship Recipient from Harvard University’s Institute of Urban School Leaders. She has authored “The Seven Women Every Woman Should Know” and “The Belle Method of Academic Currency”, and co-authored “Glory: The Struggle For Yards”. Her test prep expertise with S.C.H.O.O.L.S. has been featured nationally and internationally, having most recently been chosen as one of the top 40 global solutions for eradicating gender inequity in STEM for the 2023 MIT Gender Equity in STEM Challenge. Dr. Belle has been a featured speaker at the 2023 Inaugural USC Rossier Research Conference and the 2021 ACAN Conference for Alabama Possible. Receiving her Doctorate in Education, with a concentration in Organizational Change and Leadership, from the University of Southern California in 2023, Dr. Belle was named as a 2023 23 Women in Tech by Business Alabama Magazine, was awarded the Inaugural BT20 Award as one of the top 10 Black Alumni in the history of the University of Southern California, received the prestigious 2023 ASU+GSV G Cup Elite 200 Award for Ed-Tech as one of the top 200 ed-tech companies in the world, won the 2023 IdeaVillage Pitch Competition sponsored by Dell, was inducted into the 2023 Murphy High School Hall of Fame, placed first in the 2022 Alabama Launchpad’s Social Impact Seed Round Award Competition sponsored by the EDPA, and pitched for the 2022 USC EdVentures Cohort IV Accelerator led by Douglas Lynch and Mark DeGennaro. Her company, a globally certified Benefit Corporation, has helped more that 250,000 students earn over $250 million dollars in scholarships.