CAS Prep and Navigate the Maze to Achievement are Brooklyn-based companies that provide educational services to the Bedford-Stuyvesant community. CAS Prep has been providing SHSAT Test Prep and enrichment services for the past five years, and NTMA has provided educational consulting to families for the past three years. In 2017, the two companies partnered on a project to bring SHSAT test prep services to NTMA while Cas Prep continued to offer its own test prep program.
The two programs started in November 2016 and culminated in October 2017 with approximately 30 students taking the test. This collaboration has resulted in four of NTMA’s students being offered admission to specialized high schools and six of CAS Prep’s students also being offered seats to these prestigious schools. With only 207 African-American students being offered seats to the specialized high schools, the two companies account for roughly 5 percent of all the seats offered to African-American students this year.
CAS Prep’s founder, Sam Adewumi, acknowledged that the hard work of the students, their parents and the instructors through months of teaching and prepping and the additional social emotional components offered by both organizations led to this year’s success.
“We plan on building from the lessons learned from this past year, in order to increase the admissions for our 2018-2019 cohort,” he said. “We are currently seeking talented students in both sixth and seventh grades who have demonstrated proficiency in state exams for the new cohort. We especially saw success for those students who were in our programs since sixth grade.”
Allison Shillingford, founder of NTMA, added, “This is just a small example of what can happen when we form strong partnerships with each other focused on achieving the best for our children. Not only did we provide test prep, but we offered students a chance to learn about civic responsibility and provided exposure to various careers.”
For more information about CAS Prep, call 646-982-8166, email castestprep@aol.com or visit their website at casprep.org. For more information about Navigate the Maze, call 646-387-8625, email allison@naigatethemaze.org or visit their website at navigatethemaze.org.