Transcend
Aylon Samouha, CEO
Education
Transcend is a national nonprofit that helps communities reimagine and redesign schools so every young person can thrive in a rapidly changing world. Across the country, communities are recognizing that classrooms built for the industrial age aren’t preparing learners for what’s next. Instead, schools must be designed for continuous evolution: relevant, resilient, and ready for the future.
Year Founded: 2015
For transformation to take place, the education sector required an investment in research & development (R&D), activities organizations undertake to innovate, solve new problems, and learn new things. Unfortunately, most school systems lacked capacity for this work. Transcend’s team was passionate about bringing this piece to the puzzle as an R&D engine for the education sector. Transcend launched with a focus on school partnerships, carefully identifying opportunities that allowed them to fuel breakthrough innovation in holistic school model design.
For more than a decade, Transcend has partnered with school and system leaders to build the capacity for bold, lasting change—change led by the people who live it every day. They’ve worked with nearly 500 schools and 200 districts serving over 225,000 students (80% BIPOC) in 35 states. Together, they’ve seen what’s possible when communities lead redesign with proven methods, insight, and support. From that work, they develop and share tools, research, and models that help schools everywhere make the leap to extraordinary learning—for every child, in every community.
Recent News:
‘The Relationship Between Student Experiences and Outcomes,’ Transcend’s latest report, uses their Leaps Student Voice Survey to reveal what students are actually experiencing.
Aylon Samouha
CEO
