The Birth of the National Association of Street Schools

In 1989, Tillapaugh began to receive calls from educators in other cities who desired to start schools in their urban cores based on the Denver Street School model.  In response to this growing demand, Tillapaugh founded the National Association of Street Schools (NASS).  NASS currently has over 40 member schools throughout the nation.

In 2003, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation strongly endorsed the Denver Street School model of individualized, personalized education in a small school setting by including NASS as the only faith-based model in its Alternative High School Initiative.  The National Association of Street Schools received $1.134 million to help replicate the street school model in opening ten new schools nationally.

About Street School Network

Our country’s education statistics are staggering.  Close to 3,500 students are dropping out of school every day.  Less than 50% of Black and Hispanic students are earning their high school diploma.  For each dropout, society pays an estimated $563,000 over the course of their lifetime through income supports and/or incarceration.

The National Association of Street Schools exists for these very students, working nationwide to meet the challenges of at-risk youth by developing a network of schools that provide personalized, comprehensive education, a moral code, and tools for self-sufficiency. NASS’s purpose is to facilitate the development of street schools around the country that serve as educational intensive care units for those being left behind.

Schools belonging to the National Association of Street Schools are all Christian schools, though differentiated from regular Christian schools by the type of student they target for admittance. NASS is not affiliated with a particular church or denomination, therefore, does not espouse a particular denominational doctrine, and is not financially supported by a particular denomination.  

A NASS school is differentiated from other Christian schools in that the NASS design has a policy of access for all, regardless of race, religion, sex, academic or economic status. Acceptance of the student where they are is a defining characteristic of a NASS school.

• The model is open to students expelled from public schools, private schools, and   other alternative schools.
• 95% to 100% of the students are not Christians and are not required to be. They are presented with the basics of the Christian faith as a choice that they can make, but never required to believe as a condition of continued enrollment at the school or graduation from the school.