About

Since 1989, the HOPE (Harnessing Optimism and Potential through Education) Foundation – a non-profit 501(c)(3), whose Honorary Chair is Archbishop Desmond Tutu – has led the way in creating learning communities where student success is the only option. HOPE helps to develop high-performing leadership teams and school cultures where Failure Is Not an Option® for any student.

We are a leadership organization internationally recognized for re-culturing school communities and sustaining student success by collaborating with schools and districts on a long-term basis to build leadership capacity and ensure success.

Our success is rooted in our experienced team of professionals, our dedicated Board of Directors and Advisory Board and the diverse and numerous organizations with whom we partner.

We have a proven track record of creating school and district-wide leadership teams that consistently close learning gaps among students while enhancing overall school, teacher and student achievement.

We build leadership communities within and between schools and districts that increase student achievement and create schools where failure is not an option for any student.

From pockets of excellence to schools of hope.

Over the past two decades, the HOPE Foundation has expanded the application of professional learning communities into a district-wide approach outlined in the award-winning best selling publication Failure Is Not an Option^®: Six Principles That Guide Student Achievement in High-Performing Schools (not in its second edition). This school reform methodology has been proven to turn around low-performing schools, close achievement gaps within and between schools district-wide, and sustain overall success.

Our success stems from our experienced team of professionals, our dedicated
Board of Directors and Advisory Board – including Honorary Chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu – and the diverse and numerous organizations with which we partner.

The HOPE Foundation has had and/or continues to have an impact in over 255 cities across 38 states, the District of Columbia and throughout Canada. We also consult the South Africa’s Ministry of Education to help build nationwide leadership capacity.

Today, HOPE is helping to create and foster the next generation of education leaders – bringing teachers and administrators together to build classroom environments where teachers want to teach, students want to learn and success is the only option.