Real Goals, Real Impact: How the Changemaker Cohort Has Transformed Schools Across the Country

When we talk about school improvement, it is easy to get lost in abstract educational jargon. But true change doesn't happen in a vacuum; it happens when dedicated students and educators draw a line in the sand, commit to a specific target, and do the hard work to achieve it.

That is exactly what Eagle Rock’s Professional Development Center Changemaker Cohort is all about. Across the country, our partner schools have mapped out exactly what their communities desired, set bold AIM Statements, and turned those visions into documented realities.

From boosting classroom engagement to embedding mental health support directly into school culture, let's look back at how these incredible schools successfully hit their targets across generations of change, including our latest milestone achievers and an exciting internal collaboration.

The Pioneers: June 2024 Victories

These schools set the groundwork by focusing on immediate, tangible areas of student life, successfully hitting their targets by the summer of 2024:

• New Visions Humanities IV (Queens, NY): Successfully met their goal ensuring 80% of students were actively engaged and attending targeted classes. By focusing on targeted classrooms, they turned attendance numbers into active participation.
• Fannie Lou Hamer Freedom High School (Bronx, NY): Took a deep dive into community and environmental justice, achieving their target of having 100% of advisories develop a deeper understanding of food sustainability practices.
• Empower Generations (Lancaster, CA): Recognized that you cannot learn if your baseline needs aren't met. Their wellness push concluded with 80% of learners and staff successfully able to describe their personal health and wellness plan.

The Culture Builders: June 2025 Victories

Building on that momentum, the next group of Changemaker schools widened their lens to focus on the broader school ecosystem, hitting their benchmarks by June 2025:

• Francis Parker School (Louisville, KY): Targeted the heartbeat of school culture, resulting in 95% of community members reporting a greater sense of connection and belonging.
• Lake Arthur High School (Lake Arthur, NM): Tackled mental health stigma head-on, concluding their project with 85% of their school community experiencing a deeper understanding of mental health and available resources.
• Vaux Big Picture High School (Philadelphia, PA): Broke down the walls between home and school, ensuring 100% of families gained direct access to resources so students could improve academically while feeling safe and supported.
• Freedom High School (Albuquerque, NM): Zeroed in on the daily classroom experience, crossing the finish line with 80% of students actively participating in class.
• Étude High School (Sheboygan, WI): Pushed for active citizenship, successfully engaging 80% of their community in foundational community-building activities like advisory, town halls, and community service.

The System Changers: June 2026 Victories

Our most recent cohort focused heavily on the long-term, structural environment of their campuses—crossing their final milestone markers just last month:

• Crosstown High School (Memphis, TN): Successfully achieved their target, with 85% of students reporting a significantly greater sense of belonging in school.
• Nashville Big Picture High School (Nashville, TN): Met their comprehensive goal, with 85% of the total school community (including students, teachers, and staff) reporting an overall positive experience.
• iLEAD Agua Dulce (Agua Dulce, CA): Hit their target out of the park, with 80% of learners and staff reporting that they feel fully included and experience a greater sense of community.

The Current Wave: Heading Toward February 2027

Our current cohort is right in the thick of their momentum. Building on the 100% success rate of our previous cohorts, these schools are on track to wrap up their goals early next year:

• Welte Big Picture (Fountain, CO): Focusing directly on core model execution, aiming for 85% of students to be actively engaged in Big Picture learning.
• Quincy Innovation Academy (Quincy, WA): Aiming for clear, demand-driven growth. Their target is to have 30 new students interested in joining the Quincy BPL program to justify expanding to a second advisory.
• Mapleton Early College (Denver, CO): Cultivating student agency by targeting that 85% of MEC Prep students will be actively engaged in student leadership.
• Malcolm Shabazz City High School (Madison, WI): Pushing for deep, reciprocal relationships with a goal that 80% of staff and students will demonstrate authentic engagement in the Shabazz school community.

Amplifying Impact: The Eagle Rock Internal Projects

Internal transformation at Eagle Rock has also been central to our model. In fact, for Cohort 1, we ran five entirely internal Eagle Rock teams to test and refine our framework from the inside out. Since then, we have endeavored to embed an Eagle Rock team directly within the national cohort every year. 

Shape the Future: Join Cohort 6 in February 2027!

The data is clear: when schools set concrete, time-bound goals with the support of a dedicated national network and skilled professional developers rooted in improvement science & asset-based community development, real transformation follows. Every single cohort before you has proven that these targets aren't just wishful thinking; they are entirely achievable blueprints for success.

Now, it is your turn.

We are officially recruiting bold students & educators for the launch of Cohort 6 in February 2027.

If you are ready to move past generic goals, design a bulletproof AIM statement for your campus, and join a vibrant network of peers doing the actual work of continuous, proven school improvement, we want you in the room. Let's build the future of education together.

Ready to make a change? The application window is now open. Learn more about the network, explore our past impact, and apply for Cohort 6 here.