build. excel. sustain.
2025 Annual Report
Aasimah Navlakhi
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 schools that serve students across the K-12 continuum and focus on rigorous academics and postsecondary readiness for college and/or career. These schools are tailored to meet the specific needs of their communities and reflect a range of instructional models, design priorities, and student populations, including:
Arts. Character & Equity. Early College & Dual Enrollment. Competency-Based Learning. CTE & Industry-Aligned Specializations. Dual Language. Entrepreneurship & Leadership. Montessori. Opportunity Youth & Re-Engagement. Project-Based Learning. Serving Students with Diverse Special Needs. STEM & STEAM. Student Belonging and Wellness
Students Served by BES Fellow-founded Schools
- 41% Black
- 47% Hispanic
- 6% White
- 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 a new cohort of 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 that are committed to academic rigor, career pathways, character formation, and student well-being.
85%
of 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 Memphis, TN
Founded by 2022 BES
Fellow Muna Olaniyi
BES Fellowship Build TrackThis Fellow was also supported by the Memphis Education Fund.
HONOR PREPARATORY Charlotte, NC
Founded by 2020 BES
Fellow Paul Barnhardt
BES Fellowship Build Track
I DREAM BIG CHARTER SCHOOL Tuscaloosa, AL
Founded by 2023 BES
Fellow Dr. Angela Lang
BES Fellowship Build TrackThis Fellow was also supported by Charter School Growth Fund and New Schools for Alabama.
INDEPENDENCE PREPARATORY ACADEMY Birmingham, AL
Founded by 2022 BES
Fellow Dr. Calandra Sales
BES Fellowship Build Track, Character & Equity FellowThis Fellow was also supported by New Schools for Alabama & the Kern Family Foundation.
INVICTUS NASHVILLE Nashville, TN
Founded by 2021 BES
Fellow Dr. Brenda Jones
BES Fellowship Build Track, Character & Equity FellowThis Fellow was also supported by the Nashville Incubator and The Kern Family Foundation.
UNBOUND STOCKTON COMMUNITY SCHOOL Stockton, CA
Founded by 2019 BES
Fellow Phillip Hon
BES Fellowship Build Track
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
This Fellow is also supported by RedefinED Atlanta.
Read more
“I needed a partner that understood both the weight of that responsibility and the courage it takes to pursue this dream. 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
This Fellow is also supported by RedefinED Atlanta.
Read more
“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
This Fellow is also supported by AZ Leads and the Kern Family Foundation.
Read more
“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. 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
This Fellow was also supported by Charter School Growth Fund.
Read more
“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. We would love to partner with you to either work with an identified leader on your team to prepare them to lead the replication effort, or to support with the search for, and training of, a leader to take on 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
63%
of leaders in our leadership development programs in the last four 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
School Management & Leadership Accelerator
In 2025, we debuted the School Management & Leadership Accelerator, a cohort-based leadership development program designed to build a diverse and dynamic network of strategic and high-performing school leaders.
Through a comprehensive approach to school management and leadership, this eight-month program builds upon the foundations of our former LENS program and helps participants who are in the first five years of their leadership role bring operational excellence to their schools.
From program visits to residencies, thank you to all the schools and organizations 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
- Brooke Charter High School
- CAST STEM High School
- Compass Rose Ingenuity
- Crosstown High School
- Drew Charter School
- Eight Million Stories
- Etoile Academy Charter School
- Ethos Classical Charter School
- Freedom Preparatory Academy
- Gestalt Community Schools
- Harmony School of Discovery
- Henderson Collegiate
- High Tech High Chula Vista
- Libertas School of Memphis
- Mount Vernon School
- Normal Park Museum Magnet
- Oaklawn Middle School
- Prelude Preparatory School
- Purpose Prep Academy Charter School
- Science Leadership Academy
- Southwest Public Schools College & Career Preparatory Academy
- Springfield Prep Charter School
- St. Mary’s Academy
- Summit Preparatory Charter High School
- The EduProject Innovation Academy
- Uncommon Schools NYC
- Unparalleled Preparatory Academy
- Uplift Heights Healthcare Institute
- Warrensville Heights City School District
- YES Prep
Through the BES Accelerator, I deepened my ability to navigate adaptive challenges through the lens of my identity and lived experience. I learned how to drive impact at the grade-level and systems level rather than relying on individual effort, and how to operationalize new ideas in ways that build momentum instead of draining capacity.
Stephen J. Robertson
(Cleveland, OH)
2025 BES Accelerator
Assistant Principal, Breakthrough Southeast
sustain.
We train leaders to sustain their results over time.
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 positive and lasting 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.
66%
of schools still led by BES Fellows outperformed their peer district in ELA, math or both subjects.
8
out of
10
schools still led by Fellows saw higher student growth on state assessments than their peer districts in ELA, math or both subjects.
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)
Arizona
100%
of BES Fellow-founded schools outperformed their peer district on state assessments in math, ELA, or both.
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 (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 and click below to read 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
Five first gen students are headed to top colleges across the country with full scholarships, thanks to support from school counselors (Rise Kohyang HS / Bright Star Schools)
Libertas Academy Charter School celebrates first graduating class
Berkshire Arts & Tech Graduates Leave a Legacy of Kindness, Creativity
South LA high school students graduate with associates degrees
Dekalb Brilliance Academy celebrates new school facility
New playground unveiled at Ethos Classical as part of effort to address playspace inequity
Salem Public Schools, Salem Academy Make Strong Strides In MCAS Results
Excel Academy Achieves Statewide Recognition for Outstanding Academic Growth on MCAS
Argosy Collegiate Charter School (Fall River, MA)
Argosy Collegiate finalized a second Early College Designation partnership with University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.
Berkshire Arts & Technology Charter Public School (Adams, MA)
Berkshire Arts & Technology Charter Public School saw a 100% pass rate among its tenth graders who took the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) ELA test.
Community Charter School of Cambridge (Cambridge, MA)
Community Charter School of Cambridge earned a 2025 National Blue Ribbon Award Nominee from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
Creo College Preparatory Charter School (Bronx, NY)
Creo College Preparatory Charter School graduated its third class of 8th graders who grew 56% in ELA and 53% in Math across their four years at the school. Additionally, students scored a 100% pass rate on Algebra I.
Élan Academy Charter School (New Orleans, LA)
Élan Academy Charter School ranked in the top 3 in New Orleans for State LEAP (Louisiana Educational Assessment Program) Mastery Growth.
Étoile Academy Charter School (Houston, TX)
Étoile Academy Charter School finished renovations of two portables, allowing its Bissonnet Campus to add 100 more students.
Harlem Link Charter School (New York, NY)
Harlem Link Charter School opened its second specialized classroom to serve students with more restrictive special education needs.
Leadership Preparatory Charter School (Memphis, TN)
Leadership Preparatory Charter School received the Tennessee Reward School distinction, and their students scored in the top 9% for ELA and top 19% for math in the state.
Legacy College Prep Charter High School (Bronx, NY)
Legacy College Prep Charter High School celebrated the achievements of its high school graduates– 100% of Class of 2025 having been accepted to college and 70% of current seniors set to graduate with college credit.
Libertas Academy (Springfield, MA)
Libertas Academy had the highest student growth percentile average in math and outperformed the school district in every subject and grade.
Persistence Preparatory Academy (Buffalo, NY)
Persistence Prep Academy was in the 100th percentile on the TNTP Insight Survey for Instructional Culture among Buffalo charter schools.
Salem Academy Charter School (Salem, MA)
Salem Academy Charter School became a Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) School of Recognition and earned the AP Platinum Status & Access Award from the College Board.
Tulsa Honor Academy (Tulsa, OK)
Tulsa Honor Academy juniors scored above the 50th percentile statewide on ACT Math, STEM, and Writing during the 2024-25 school year, and 100% of seniors (80% being first-generation college students) were accepted into a four-year university.
Veritas College Preparatory Charter School (Memphis, TN)
Veritas College Preparatory Charter School experienced a more than 10% decrease in its chronic absenteeism rate.
Vista College Preparatory Charter School (Phoenix, AZ)
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. One of its schools was also recognized by the state as one of eight Title I Schools of Academic Distinction.
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:
Our 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
- 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.
100% of team members remained at BES in the 2025 fiscal year.
+58 Net Promoter Score given by BES staff in 2025, reflecting a highly engaged team with a strong sense of belonging and shared purpose.
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:
- AZ Leads
- Carnegie Corporation of New York
- Cedar Street Foundation
- Charter School Growth Fund
- D.W. Gore Family Foundation
- Fort Worth Education Partnership
- Houston Endowment
- Kern Family Foundation
- Memphis Education Fund
- Michael and Susan Dell Foundation
- Mr. Arthur Rock and Mrs. Toni Rembe Rock
- Mr. Joe Klein
- RedefinED Atlanta
- The Nashville Incubator
- Walton 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:
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