Mobile-based SCHOOLS prepares Alabama students for a better future

Valencia Belle’s interest in helping students achieve their academic potential took root early. The Mobile native was 12 years old when she began tutoring fellow students, charging a small fee that kept her in business as she went on to excel as a scholar and track and field athlete at Murphy High School.

Belle went on to earn her bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of Alabama, then spent several years working as a researcher for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), where she was part of team credited with advancing development of HIV medications. She left NIH to continue her education, earning a nursing degree from Virginia Commonwealth University before completing her master’s in family studies and system integration at the University of Maryland. Belle continued to reach for the highest echelons of education: a Ph.D. in organizational leadership from the University of Southern California.

As she followed her educational path, Belle renewed her youthful interest in helping students fulfill their academic potential and reach career goals. In particular, she became focused on helping students overcome inequities in standardized testing – specifically, the ACT and SAT tests that play a substantial role in college admissions and eligibility for scholarships – that, according to no less an authority than the National Education Association, have perpetuated educational gaps and limited opportunities for students of color, especially those from low-income backgrounds.

In 2015, Belle founded SCHOOLS – the acronym is for “Success Can Happen Out of Low Scores” – a company dedicated to preparing students for tests, with the objective of optimizing their scores and putting them in position to qualify for scholarships that help them ease the financial burdens of higher education. Based in Mobile, SCHOOLS provides low-cost test prep, employing certified educators, counselors and career coaches to ensure that students meet their educational goals. The company has helped students achieve composite test score increases of five to 10 points on the ACT test and 100 to 200 points on the SAT, at a fraction of the cost of other test prep vendors

“We meet students where they are and help take them where they want to go,” Belle said. “A single test score can cause students and families to have to go into debt to go to college and affect job opportunities down the road. This platform changes lives, and as we look at future employment needs, it’s also a workforce development solution.

“We’re working to erase generational poverty.”

To date, SCHOOLS has helped more than 300,000 students in the U.S. and abroad access more than $300 million in scholarships and other financial assistance. Now, having recently attained designation as a C corporation – a status that allows for greater flexibility in raising capital – the company is preparing for its next round of growth.

Meanwhile, Belle reflected on the success her company already has achieved – arriving, as she put it “at the intersection of education and economic growth.” She credits the gBETA Gulf Coast Accelerator and the Innovation PortAL for providing funding and helping to “sharpen my business model” through mentorship that enabled the transition of SCHOOLS from a one-to-one consulting-based business model to a subscription-based model that has fueled rapid growth. She has won numerous pitch competitions that have brought more than $200,000 in nondilutive funds and also earned funding from the Alabama Power Foundation and the Regions Bank Foundation‘s Tech Academy.

Belle takes special pride that the growth of SCHOOLS continues to be achieved by the tech talent she has found at home in Alabama, rather than established tech centers on the East and West Coasts or overseas.

“For me, ‘L.A.’ means ‘Lower Alabama,’” Belle said, laughing. “I didn’t have to go anywhere else to find the tech support I need to do the job and grow the company. It’s right here.”

Looking ahead, Belle talks of educating the workforce of the future as “a billion-dollar opportunity.” With the next phase of her company’s growth on the immediate horizon, she sees that opportunity as one from which both SCHOOLS and her home state are increasingly positioned to benefit.

“This started as a mission,” Belle said. “It’s still a mission, but now it’s also a multimillion-dollar company, focused on doing good. To be able to maintain the passion and purpose that gave birth to the company and be able to make a profit? That’s an amazing opportunity.”