Academic Approach
Katy Steele has a diverse work experience with a strong background in education and fitness. Katy started their career as a Special Education Teacher with Teach For America and the School District of Philadelphia. Katy then worked as a Case Manager and Dean of Specialized Services at the Noble Network of Charter Schools, where they managed a team in the special education department and ensured legal compliance for students with individualized education plans. Katy also worked as a Publishing Associate at McMaster-Carr, collaborating with the merchandising team to create customer-friendly catalog pages. Katy later became the Director of Classroom Learning at Academic Approach, overseeing a team of instructors and designing SAT and ACT prep classes. Currently, they are a Group Fitness Instructor at Equinox, teaching specialized classes and staying up-to-date with new fitness formats and protocols through ongoing professional development.
Katy Steele obtained a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) degree in Political Science and Communication from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where they studied from 2005 to 2009. Katy then pursued further education by attending Chestnut Hill College from 2009 to 2011, earning a Masters of Education degree in Special Education and Teaching.
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Academic Approach
The idea for Academic Approach was born 13 years ago at Columbia University in New York City. While earning a PhD in English and teaching college freshmen in Columbia's core curriculum, I was at the same time tutoring New York City high school students for the standardized tests. I noticed an evident gap between the level of readiness my highschool students exhibited and the academic standards they would be expected to live up to on the college level.It occurred to me that the most meaningful way to offer test preparation was to create an academic curriculum that bridged these two levels of education, high school and college. Such a curriculum would allow me to use standardized tests in an innovative way: as a means to produce both better high school test takers and better college freshmen. We refer to this essential academic mission as "Teaching Beyond the TestTM."