Our Mission

Generation Schools Network increases access to equitable learning experiences by partnering with a network of education stakeholders to ensure all students have the opportunity to thrive.

Our Vision

A world where schools and communities work together to ensure every student realizes their full potential in school and beyond.

Equitable access and opportunities

Increased learner agency

Every student thriving

What a "Network of Education Stakeholders" Looks Like:

We believe real student success happens when each level of the greater community is involved.

This includes:

School staff
School leadership
Families
Community organizations
Local businesses
Federal and state agencies
Government
Private foundations

"[GSN] has done a great job organizing and implementing the principal induction program! [It has helped me] increase communication and reflection with my principals, thereby increasing opportunities to provide guidance and support to help them be as successful as possible."

Former Superintendent, Huerfano School District RE-1

Michael Moore

OUR VALUES IN ACTION

Our Values In Action

Trust builds relationships
Our staff of former educators allows us to lead with empathy and shared investment in our partnerships.
- Gold Seal of Transparency on Candid for last 5 years
- 75% of Staff belong to the communities they serve
- 200+ years collectively working in schools
Innovation Requires Collaboration
We help like-minded groups convene to innovate around common challenges and find solutions together.
- Established the first regional model for college and career readiness in rural Colorado
- Manage an 81-district collaborative working together to solve rural Colorado's most pressing issues
- 8 years running TLP cohorts leveraging peer-to-peer connections for school improvement
Change Demands Resourcefulness
We listen to what educators and students are asking for and curate resources/partnerships to meet those needs.
- Our College and Career programming has connected more than 90 community members with local schools since 2021
- Provide concurrent enrollment classes for 11th and 12th graders in partnership with UNC to grow teacher pathways in Colorado
Equity Takes Courage
We take on systemic barriers and opposition in pursuit of making education relevant and accessible for all students.
- Championed legislation to give educational supports to students involved with the juvenile justice system
- Over a decade of creating equitable access by bringing resources and programs to far-reaching rural education spaces

Our History

Generation Schools Network (GSN) Launched

2005

Generation Schools Network (GSN) launched in 2005 with support from the Ford Foundation and an Echoing Green Prize. The focus was designing and implementing a school model that radically reorganized student time and teacher talent around a more cost-effective resource management structure where everybody’s needs can be met even under tense and constrained districts (i.e., reduced class size, integrated curriculum, additional learning time, and college and career preparation).

Brooklyn Generation School (BGS) Launched

2007

The work came to life in two urban turnaround schools— first was Brooklyn Generation School (grades 9-12) in Brooklyn, NY.

At Brooklyn Generation School, the first three graduating classes (2011, 2012, 2013) increased the graduation rate, doubled the percentage of students receiving a NY State Regents diploma and 90% accepted into college. The model scaled to five other schools in New York City.

Expansion to Colorado

2011

The second urban turnaround school was West Generation Academy (grades 6-12) in Denver, CO.

At West Generation Academy, early results showed 76% of juniors earned college growth, 1.5 years growth in ELA, ranking second in Denver Public Schools’ student engagement index, and justice engaged youth percentages dropping from 13% to 2%. During our first decade we learned the model works when the mission works.

Transition to Service Offerings & Launching the CREC

2015

After a decade of work, GSN made a strategic shift from starting schools to coming alongside schools. We began helping urban and rural schools and districts better fulfill their missions by aligning and streamlining student access, opportunity, and agency processes related to Leadership & Improvement, Health & Wellness, Redesign & Innovation, and College & Career Readiness.

In 2015, GSN, with the help of Battelle for Kids, brought together key stakeholders in rural education (districts, BOCES, higher education, economic development, etc.) to form the Colorado Rural Education Collaborative (CREC) to meet pressing needs of rural schools and districts who were often left out of conversations and were less likely to receive resources. Today, the CREC has dozens of member districts and more than 42 million has been raised to solve rural challenges.

Growth and Expansion

2024

With this new model, GSN’s footprint has grown substantially in the number of students (from 2,700 to 135,000 per year), schools (from 7 to 195 per year), and districts (from 2 to 70 per year) we've been able to support. In our second decade we learned the mission works when streamlining processes work.

Where Are We Now?

TODAY

At the dawn of our third decade, GSN is a resilient female-led nonprofit with a BIPOC board and leadership team of passionate and capable leaders from a myriad of cultures, professional disciplines, and community settings (urban, rural, and suburban).

Our combined expertise ranges from the classroom, traditional and alternative school, district, educational agency, university, business, policy think tank, and grassroots activism.

Our emergent work is inspired by the poet and physician William Carlos Williams who once said “truth comes in degrees” in response to a question about why certain questions split people so decisively, definitively. We see each school as a living system reliant on sustainable partnerships to deal with change as they strive to meet their mission and create access, opportunity, and agency for all learners.