build.excel.sustain.
2025 Annual Report
BES identifies and prepares excellent leaders to transform education in their communities.
Aasimah Navlakihi
Chief Executive Officer
Message from the CEO
This past year offered moments of both reflection and progress, reinforcing the importance of our work—especially in a time of evolving challenges—to ensure more students across the country receive the high-quality education they deserve.
In 2025, more than 75,000 students were enrolled in over 220 BES Fellow-founded schools spanning 55 cities across 23 states and Washington, D.C. Nearly 3,000 school leaders have engaged in BES programming to date, and we continue to partner with regional education champion organizations and charter associations, strengthening our presence nationwide.
As we look to celebrate 25 years of impact in 2026, our sense of purpose is clear and unwavering. Even amid uncertainty, everything we do is grounded in a simple truth: this work matters because it shapes the lives and futures of children across the country. With renewed focus, responsibility, and optimism, we remain committed to expanding access to the high-quality education every student deserves.
Thank you for your ongoing support. Together, we will keep building a brighter future for children.
build.
We train leaders to build schools.
Now more than ever, BES is working alongside local partners and identifying diverse leaders with a strong vision for schooling who place community input at the center of their work.
Through the BES Fellowship,
BES Fellows have founded over 220 schools, currently serving more than 75,000 students in 55 cities across 23 states and Washington, D.C.
BES Fellows design school models that serve students across the K-12 continuum and focus on rigorous academics and areas such as:
Project-Based Learning. Entrepreneurship. Leadership. STEAM. Student Wellness. Fostering Community. The Arts. Serving students with diverse learning needs. Artificial Intelligence. A variety of CTE specializations. Artificial Intelligence.
Students Served by BES Fellow-founded Schools
- 41% Black
- 6% White
- 47% Hispanic
- 3% Other
- 2% Asian
On average, public schools across the country enroll 15% Black and 29% Latinx/Hispanic students
(Source: National Center for Education Statistics)
- 81% qualify for free or reduced lunch
- 17% English language learners
- 14% students with special needs
In public schools nationwide, 53% of students qualify for free or reduced lunch; 11% are English language learners; 15% have special needs
In 2025, we welcomed eight BES Fellows who are engaging families in Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, and Maryland.
Through the BES Fellowship, they are designing unique and community-responsive school models or leading the replication of schools that are committed to academic rigor, career pathways, character formation, and student well-being.
85%
charter applications submitted by Fellows have been authorized nationwide since BES was founded.
Average application approval rate was 36% in 2022-23 (Source: NACSA)
BES Fellow-founded Schools That Opened in 2025
EMPOWER MEMPHIS CAREER & COLLEGE PREP
Memphis, TN
Founded by 2022 BES
Fellow Muna Olaniyi
HONOR PREPARATORY
Charlotte, NC
Founded by 2020 BES
Fellow Paul Barnhardt
I DREAM BIG CHARTER SCHOOL
Tuscaloosa, AL
Founded by 2023 BES
Fellow Dr. Angela Lang
INDEPENDENCE PREPARATORY ACADEMY
Birmingham, AL
Founded by 2022 BES
Fellow Dr. Calandra Sales
INVICTUS NASHVILLE
Nashville, TN
Founded by 2021 BES
Fellow Dr. Brenda Jones
UNBOUND STOCKTON COMMUNITY SCHOOL
Stockton, CA
Founded by 2019 BES
Fellow Phillip Hon
100%
of BES Fellows feel ready to lead their school and feel equipped to utilize their role as a leader / educator to improve academic outcomes for students of color.
2024-25 BES Fellowship Cohort
End-of-Year Survey
Hear From BES Fellows
“One of the most significant shifts in my leadership that emerged from my BES experience is a deeper understanding of the importance of building a school with the community rather than for the community. Through BES, I was challenged to examine my assumptions, slow down my thinking, and center the voices, lived experiences, and aspirations of the families and students I aim to serve.”
Dr. Kimberly Gore (Atlanta, GA)
2025 BES Fellow - Community Co-Design Track
Proposed Founder & CEO,
Zoe Preparatory Academy
“I needed a partner that understood both the weight of that responsibility and the courage it takes to pursue it. BES was that partner. BES believed in the dream early, pushed me to refine it with clarity and rigor, and provided the space, tools, and encouragement to turn vision into action. More than anything, BES helped me see that this dream wasn’t just possible — it was necessary.”
China Cardriche-Clements (Atlanta, GA)
2024 BES Fellow - Community Co-Design Track
Proposed Founder & Executive Director,
Power Public Schools
“BES supports leaders at that intersection of experience and growth. It offered the opportunity to refine my leadership, sharpen my thinking, and build with both rigor and humility. BES understands that lasting impact comes not just from strong ideas, but from leaders who are willing to listen deeply, learn continuously, and build alongside communities with care and purpose.”
Dr. Jay Samant (Phoenix, AZ)
2025 BES Character & Equity Fellow - Build Track
Proposed Founder & CEO,
Zenith College and Career Prep
“BES provided a combination of strategic, technical, and human-centered support that was critical to my growth as a founder and school leader. The coaching was particularly impactful—structured, honest, and grounded in real-world school leadership challenges. BES helped me clarify my theory of action, pressure-test decisions, and think more systematically about how leadership choices would translate into student outcomes.”
Dr. LaTasha Adams (Columbus, GA)
2023 BES Fellow - Build Track
Executive Director & Founder,
Dominion Purpose Academy
“BES created powerful learning opportunities through residencies at high-performing schools and regional school visits. These experiences allowed me to see strong models in action, ask hard questions, and learn directly from school founders who have already walked the journey. Learning not only from their successes, but also from their missteps, added a level of honesty and practicality that is difficult to replicate elsewhere.”
Dr. Terri Guy (Little Rock, AR)
2025 BES Fellow - Build Track
Proposed School Founder,
The Grove Academy
I learned more on the first day with BES in the Fellowship than I had learned in my previous 7 years of teaching and leadership combined. Nothing compares to the opportunity to study the nation’s best schools alongside the nation’s sharpest leaders.
Charlie Friedman (Nashville, TN), 2011 BES Fellow
Founder & Executive Director, Nashville Classical Charter Schools
Interested in applying to or supporting the BES Fellowship?
Each year, BES looks for leaders who are committed to bringing high-quality education options to their communities. If you or someone you know has an idea for an innovative school, visit our website to learn more about priority regions, deadlines, benefits, and more:
Learn more hereREPLICATE OR EXPAND AN EXISTING SCHOOL
If you are a school founder who is interested in support to replicate or expand an existing school, reach out to us at partners@bes.org to learn more about the BES Fellowship Growth Track. While candidates cannot directly apply to this track, BES develops partnerships with schools or networks planning to grow and then works with them to lead these efforts, which may include working with an identified leader or recruiting a new Fellow to lead this work.
PARTNER WITH US
We partner with local and national education champion organizations (ECOs) and funders to build out supports that will make an immediate and sustained impact in communities. If you are a funder or ECO that wants to grow the number of high-quality new charter schools in your region, contact us at partners@bes.org to discuss the ways we can collaborate. We would welcome the opportunity to partner with you to:
- 1) Identify and support a Fellow to design and launch a new fresh-start school or replicate or expand an existing, high-performing school
- 2) Provide custom training support for new school incubation
- 3) Provide coaching and training for newly-authorized schools in their planning year and first two years of operation
excel.
We train leaders to ensure their schools excel.
Beyond the Fellowship program, BES provides training and services tailored for leaders and schools at every level of growth. From year-long, cohort-based programming, to three-day intensives and structured 1:1 coaching, our offerings are designed to support and challenge public school leaders in the right way, at the right time.
Follow On Support | School Management & Leadership Accelerator School Leader Coaching | Leadership Intensives | Executive Search
Explore Our Programs & ServicesOur cohorts are intentionally diverse and reflective of the communities we serve because we know - and research increasingly shows - that better life outcomes are linked to shared identity and culture between students, teachers, and leaders.
82%
BES Fellows in our last four cohorts self-identify as people of color
83%
of leaders in our leadership development programs in the last two years self-identify as people of color.
In-Person School Visits
School visits have been crucial to our efforts to build community, study effective practices, and gain insights on the ground from those who are doing the challenging and rewarding work of running excellent and equitable schools. We sustained our partnerships with many school partners, while also welcoming new additions that provided leaders across our programs with diverse perspectives and various models for achievement.
In 2025, leaders across all our programs and services gathered in:
- Atlanta
- Houston
- Memphis
- San Antonio
Thank you to all the schools across the country that opened their doors to BES this past year:
- A+ Up Charter School
- Alpha School
- Amana Academy
- Baker Ripley - Ripley House Campus
- CAST STEM High School
- Compass Rose Ingenuity
- Crosstown High School
- Drew Charter School
- Eight Million Stories
- Essence Prep Public School
- Etoile Academy Charter School
- Ethos Classical Charter School
- Freedom Preparatory Academy
- Gestalt Community Schools
- Harmony School of Discovery
- Libertas School of Memphis
- Prelude Preparatory School
- Southwest Public Schools College & Career Preparatory Academy
- Unparalleled Preparatory Academy
- YES Prep
See what leaders had to say about their leadership development experience with BES:
“Through BES, I was challenged to examine my assumptions, slow down my thinking, and center the voices, lived experiences, and aspirations of the families and students I aim to serve.”
Dr. Kimberly Gore (Atlanta, GA)
2025 BES Fellow - Community Co-Design Track
Proposed Founder & CEO,
Zoe Preparatory Academy
“Through BES, I was challenged to examine my assumptions, slow down my thinking, and center the voices, lived experiences, and aspirations of the families and students I aim to serve.”
Dr. Kimberly Gore (Atlanta, GA)
2025 BES Fellow - Community Co-Design Track
Proposed Founder & CEO,
Zoe Preparatory Academy
sustain.
We train leaders to their results over time. excel.
At BES, we strive to ensure that schools don’t just start strong, but stay strong. Our work is meant to create transformative, generational change in communities nationwide. From incubating new school founders to developing a strong bench of leaders, BES’s programs and services are designed to support leaders at every stage and at every level of the school building.
When our leaders complete our trainings, they are poised to make a lasting and positive impact on students across the country.
3,000
Approximate number of leaders trained by BES across 36 states and Washington, D.C.
1
out of
4
BES Fellows have expanded or replicated their original school
7
out of
10
BES Fellows who founded schools in the last 5 and 10 years are still leading (or hold leadership positions) at those schools.
Across our country, parents are demanding and students deserve great schools that allow them to achieve their dreams. More than twenty years ago, BES believed in me to build a school like that for my community and supported me as we grew to a network of schools across our city. Our schools would never have been nearly as good without this support.
Chris Gibbons, Gates Foundation
BES Board Member & 2004 BES Fellow
Founder & Former CEO of STRIVE Prep (Denver, CO)
Massachusetts
85%
of BES Fellow-founded schools outperformed their peer districts by double digits in ELA and math state assessments.
California
7 out of 10
BES Fellow-founded schools saw higher student growth rates on ELA state assessments than their peer districts.
The following BES Fellow-founded schools not only outperformed their peer districts on both ELA and math state assessments, but they also saw higher student growth on these assessments:
- Albuquerque Collegiate Charter School (Albuquerque, NM)
- Alpha: Cornerstone Academy Preparatory School (San Jose, CA)
- Capitol Collegiate Academy (Sacramento, CA)
- Compass Rose Public Schools – Harvest Campus (Bastrop, TX)
- Excel Academy Charter School (Boston, MA)
- Houston Classical Charter School (Houston, TX)
- Libertas Academy Charter School (Springfield, MA)
- Prelude Preparatory School (San Antonio, TX)
- Springfield Prep Charter School (Springfield, MA)
- United Prep Academy (Columbus, OH)
Scroll to read news and highlights from BES Fellow-founded schools and learn how they are making an impact on their communities.
AMSA celebrates opening of new academic building
Every senior at Rocky Mountain Prep got accepted to college
100% of ASU Prep South Phoenix 9th graders earn their first college credits
5 first gen students from Rise Kohyang High School are headed to top colleges across the country with full scholarships
AMSA celebrates opening of new academic building
Harlem Link opened its second specialized classroom serving students with more restrictive special education needs.
Community Charter School of Cambridge was a 2025 National Blue Ribbon Award Nominee.
Future Academy was designated as a 4-star school and was ranked in the top 28% of all public schools in Nevada.
Having received the Tennessee Reward School distinction, Leadership Prep (TN) students scored in the top 9% for ELA and top 19% for math in the state.
Libertas had the highest student growth percentile average in math and outperformed the school district in every subject and grade.
Etoile Academy finished renovations of two portables to allow its Bassinet campus to add 100 students.
Springfield Prep launched a new alumni engagement initiative to strengthen connections with graduates and provide targeted assistance to navigate high school transitions and ensure ongoing academic success.
Creo College graduated its third class of 8th graders who grew 53 points in ELA and 56 points in Math across their four years at the school.
Forte Prep Academy’s math and ELA results continue to exceed the district, borough, city, and state with 92% of 8th graders proficient in math and 78% in ELA.
Vista College Preparatory doubled its math proficiency for 4th grade in one year and had two schools that received an A rating on the state report card.
100% of Berkshire Arts and Technology tenth graders passed the ELA MCAS.
Chronic absenteeism rate at Veritas College Preparatory fell by more than 10%.
100% Legacy College Prep graduates were accepted to college and 70% of scholars this current school year are set to graduate high school with college credit.
Persistence Prep Academy was in the 100th percentile on TNTP Insight Survey for Instructional Culture among Buffalo charter schools.
Elan Academy were in the top 3 in New Orleans for State LEAP Assessment Mastery Growth.
Argosy Collegiate finalized a second Early College Designation partnership with UMass Dartmouth.
ChattAcademy Community School had 100% staff and 95% student retention rates.
District accountability at Compass Rose Public Schools improved by 8 points, placing it in the top 11% in Texas for year-over-year growth.
Salem Academy received DESE School of Recognition and earned the AP Platinum Status & Access Award.
Tulsa Honor Academy seniors scored above the 50th percentile statewide on ACT Math, STEM, and Writing, and 100% of the Class of 2025—80% being first-generation college students—were accepted into a four-year university.
On average, each Democracy Prep senior received 6 college acceptances, with 26% of scholars being accepted to at least one college rated as “very competitive” on the Barron’s Selectivity Index.
In addition to exceptional academic results, DeKalb Brilliance Academy boasts a positive school culture with 99% of families recommending the school, 92% of students saying they would tell friends to attend, and 95% year-over-year family retention.
Our Partners
BES continues to partner in a variety of ways with local education champion organizations and charter associations, further strengthening our work and footprint across the United States. We are grateful for their collaboration to support BES programs ranging from multiple tracks of the BES Fellowship to School Leader Coaching, and Follow On Support.
Our partners in 2025 included:
Partner Spotlight
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Read More hereOur Team
BES aims to operate a thriving, sustainable, and equitable organization that contributes to a healthy national education sector. Our team is made up of experienced, mission-driven individuals on staff and board members who are committed to creating and sustaining transformational change through education in communities nationwide. The diversity of our team also aims to best reflect the diverse identities and cultures of the leaders and students we serve.
Board of Directors
- Martin West, Board Chair
Harvard Graduate School of Education - Ebony Lee, Board Vice Chair
Charter School Growth Fund - Amanda Ramirez , Board Treasurer
Raza Development Fund - Chris Gibbons
Gates Foundation - Elise Balboni
Finance Professional - Paul Morrissey
Compass Rose Public Schools
Leadership Team
- Aasimah Navlakhi
Chief Executive Officer - Jasmine Fryer
Chief External Affairs Officer - Rebecca Feiden
Chief of New Schools - Jabari Peddie
Chief of Leadership Development - Sara Bokhari
Chief Operating Officer
of BES board members self-identify as people of color.
of BES staff, including 80% of leadership, self-identify as people of color.
100%
of BES staff believe they have access to the learning and development needed to do their job well.
2025 BES Employee Engagement Survey
Gratitude
Our work would not be possible without the generous support of our partners and board members, as well as our donors from across the country:
- Walton Family Foundation
- Mr. Arthur Rock and Mrs. Toni Rembe Rock
- Carnegie Corporation of New York
- Charter School Growth Fund
- Cedar Street Foundation
- Michael and Susan Dell Foundation
- D.W. Gore Family Foundation
- Mr. Joe Klein
- Kern Family Foundation
In addition to our donors above, we are also grateful to our individual donors who champion our work and contribute at different levels.
As we look ahead to celebrating 25 years of impact, your generous donation will continue to support our mission and create a lasting impact for students across the country for generations to come.
Make a one-time, recurring or legacy gift:
Donate Today