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The National Accelerator of Autism Charter Schools (NAACS) was started by Diana Diaz-Harrison, founder of Arizona Autism Charter Schools (AZACS), and Glenn Pierce, founding board member of the South Florida Autism Charter School (SFACS). Diana and Glenn are autism parents who created a school solution in their respective states. Their two charters are award-winning and nationally recognized for providing high-quality, tuition-free school options for hundreds of children with autism. Over the years, potential founding teams in other states have reached out for support, and the eminent need to form a training and support organization inspired the formation of NAACS. NAACS leverages more than 25 years of combined experience from the two largest and most successful autism charters. The goal of NAACS is to share best practices and a codified school model to support founding teams wishing to build autism charters or autism programs in their states.
The mission of the National Accelerator of Autism Charter Schools (NAACS) is to support founding teams committed to starting Autism-Focused Charter Schools by offering fellowships, training, resources and a national network of support. Our vision is to accelerate the opening of an Autism Charter School in every major city in America.
Diana Díaz-Harrison, M.Ed. is the Lead Founder and Executive Director at Arizona Autism Charter Schools (AZACS) and the National Accelerator of Autism Charter Schools (NAACS). Diana was inspired to start her first school by her son, Sammy, who was diagnosed with autism at the age of two. Like many parents, she struggled to find an appropriate school for her son and decided to do something about it. Over the last ten years, Diana has led a team to open five highly effective schools. Arizona Autism Charter Schools is a nationally recognized charter network and was the top winner of the million-dollar Yass Prize in 2022 and a National Title I Distinguished School winner in 2024.
Glenn Pierce is a founding board member of the South Florida Autism Charter School and Co-Founder of the National Accelerator of Autism Charter Schools. As Senior Advisor for Turner Impact Capital, Glenn and his team have built over 160 charter schools in 15 states and the District of Columbia. He has been a leader in the charter school movement since 1997, following management roles with Citibank and PepsiCo. He holds an AB in Economics and Business from Lafayette College and an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He is the parent of a child with autism.
Megan Vincent is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) and is currently a Lead Consultant and Trainer for the National Accelerator of Autism Charter Schools. Before her current role with NAACS, Megan served as a Campus Director at Arizona Autism Charter School and was previously a special education teacher. Megan has held leadership roles in district, charter, and non-public school settings in Arizona, New York, California, and Washington. Her focus in these roles has been establishing and growing systems to support equitable, evidence-based, and data-driven programming for students with autism and other neurodiverse populations in school settings.
The NAACS fellowship training consists of four week-long immersive training visits at one of our active school sites. Training sessions include instructional best practices, creating a model classroom, operating a specialty autism campus, staffing models, and budget planning. Click the button below to access our NAACS Fellowship Application.
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