National Council for Better Schools

About Us

The AJA Research Group, the parent organization of the National Council For Better Schools, was founded in 1991. In 1994 the organization sought to address the widespread sale and use of illegal street drugs among this nation‘s youth population. A four year study was conducted using undercover operatives and with the compilation of the current literature, The Good Book About Bad Drugs, became the first major project completed by the organization. The book is a parenting guide to help parents to mitigate the potential that their children will become involved with the sale and/or use of illicit drugs.

Since then, the organization has addressed a variety of social, economic and educational issues in the United States. In August 2004, Gwen Anderson, President of the organization, became immensely concerned with the rising high school dropout rate among African-American students across the country. As a result the organization embarked on yet another major research project and determined that the dropout problem was the product of many undesirable circumstances.

Our research indicates that as many as 40 percent of the nation's high school graduates say they were not adequately prepared for the demands of employment or post secondary education; employers and college professors agreed. But more than 80 percent of recent graduates said that if they could do high school over, they would work harder.

Taking these views into account, along with our need to maintain an economic edge in a global marketplace and our commitment to equal opportunities for all students, a clear message is being sent: The imperative for action is urgent. What's more troubling is that the dropout rate among U.S. high school students is soaring. Currently an alarming 30 percent of students are not graduating with a high school diploma.

The dropout rate is much worse for minority students. Gary Orfield of the Civil Rights Project at Harvard University and Christopher Swanson of the Urban Institute found that about 50 percent of black, Hispanic, and Native American students fail to earn high school diplomas.

Our mission is to help to reverse these trends by providing students, educators and schools with cost free technologically advanced common sense solutions to an ever expanding national educational deficit.

Resultantly, the National Council for Better Schools, was created to address this problem utilizing the Internet to bridge the gap between low performing school districts and successful districts. Our two websites forstudents.org and ValidComplaints.com will address the root cause of the problem by having younger students become more cognizant of the correlation between academic success and becoming self sufficient later in life and by identifying schools and school districts that are unreceptive to the needs of the students in communities which they serve.

Our Management Team

Gwen Anderson

Mrs. Anderson has been a public school teacher in various geographical locations for over 29 years. She was a former site coordinator for the J.U.M.P. Program and possesses a wealth of knowledge relative to helping young students develop career paths. Through her efforts, she has been highly instrumental in bringing state of the art technology to the Bamberg County (South Carolina) District Two School System. Recently she was a South Carolina Teacher of the Year candidate and has been a featured presenter for the Blue Ribbon Schools of Excellence.

Alvin Ellis

Mr. Ellis had been an extremely dedicated teaching professional for 7 years working with predominantly low income minority students in rural South Carolina. Mr. Ellis has also been a featured presenter for the Blue Ribbon Schools of Excellence . He has successfully utilized technology to the fullest extent in an effort to have his students meet and exceed the state standard for his grade level. He has worked with NASA and has an unparalleled devotion to preparing his students for future academic challenges.

Sam Jones

Mr. Jones has been a casework supervisor for the Department of Social Services (Springfield, Massachusetts) for 30 years. He has provided intensive family counseling to over one thousand families and has a clear understanding of the events that have contributed to the increased dropout rate of African-American students over the last three decades. Mr. Jones brings lucid insight about the many negative social, economic, educational and cultural changes in many African-American communities that have resulted in a greater percentage of students not graduating from high school.

Rodney Bond

Lieutenant Bond is a veteran professional certified law enforcement officer employed by the South Carolina State University Police Department and serves as the head of the "saturation team." The saturation team monitors gang activity and implements appropriate intervention and tactical responses. As a result of his unique experience, he has been extremely instrumental in providing this organization with invaluable information relative to lowering the potential that a student will become involved in unlawful activities. Mr. Bond has authored a manual about the intricate aspects of gang member recruiting which provides a profound appreciation of the need for career development during middle childhood.

Myron Anderson

Mr. Anderson formerly Chief Judge of the Denmark, South Carolina Municipal Court System, is a two time published author and has a wealth of experience in social services and criminal justice. He is the founder of the AJA Research Group. Judge Anderson has personally supervised research relative to the escalating high school dropout rate among African-American youths and has concluded that unless effective methods to reverse this trend are implemented, there will be a tremendous negative ripple effect which will have grave ramifications for all Americans.

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NCFBS

The National Council For Better Schools

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