Join us in our mission

The two-year Community Co-Design Fellowship has given us the gift of more time to build a co-design team; to authentically engage the community; to include parents, students, and educators in our planning process; and to design a school that’s responsive to what we are hearing through the stories of young people and their families. There are not a lot of organizations that are invested in giving people the time and resources required to deeply engage with the community, to study effective school models, and to construct a comprehensive vision for school. The BES Fellowship gives us those resources.

It’s exciting that I have been able to use many things I learned in LENS in my new position as assistant principal, including how to effectively coach and support adults; lead my team to plan for inclusion, diversity, and equity; and use data to drive goals and priorities, which is a big focus at Forte Prep. I completed LENS knowing that being a school leader is not an easy job – especially after the pandemic began – but it is a really important job that makes a big impact.

My coach is really strong at providing me perspective outside of the work I’m doing at my school. The resources that he has offered to me in our coaching sessions have allowed me to contextualize what I’m seeing on the ground at my school with my leadership team.

I can’t imagine navigating my first year as a principal without LENS. The trainings have supported me as I grow into my new position, allowing me to practice my leadership presence when coaching the adults in my building and planning for challenging meetings.

The relationships I’ve made with the leaders in my cohort and my LENS coach have been a lifeline for me this year.

Working alongside my BES Follow On Support coach has been critical in identifying how education has rapidly evolved under the circumstances of 2020 and pivoting our model to be responsive to those changes.

The two-year Community Co-Design Fellowship has given us the gift of more time to build a co-design team; to authentically engage the community; to include parents, students, and educators in our planning process; and to design a school that’s responsive to what we are hearing through the stories of young people and their families. There are not a lot of organizations that are invested in giving people the time and resources required to deeply engage with the community, to study effective school models, and to construct a comprehensive vision for school. The BES Fellowship gives us those resources.

It’s exciting that I have been able to use many things I learned in LENS in my new position as assistant principal, including how to effectively coach and support adults; lead my team to plan for inclusion, diversity, and equity; and use data to drive goals and priorities… I completed LENS knowing that being a school leader is not an easy job… but it is a really important job that makes a big impact.

BES has recognized that in order for a school to excel and sustain its excellence for generations of students, the leader must be highly prepared and continually developed. The BES Fellowship gives access to a team of qualified coaches and a network of like-minded colleagues, and pulls back the curtain on the practices of high-performing schools around the country. And, the program is doing all this with high fidelity on a national scale.