Founded in 1998 by Kevin Teasley, the Greater Education Opportunities (GEO) Foundation is a small, but growing network of seven charter schools in Gary and Indianapolis, Indiana and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, serving 3,500 predominantly African-American and low-income students.
A sign that hangs above the entrance to all GEO Academies reads, “Through these doors walk college graduates.” GEO Foundation believes that all children should have access to a quality education that includes college and that education can “Beat Poverty.”
To actualize these beliefs, GEO has systematically built a student-centered, content-rich K-12 educational model that provides a personalized and competency-based approach to learning necessary to close achievement gaps beginning in elementary schools, ensuring middle school students are on at least high school grade level by the summer before 9th grade, and ultimately preparing low-income students to begin college coursework on college campuses as early as 9th grade. By providing an accelerated pathway to college, beginning in kindergarten, GEO schools hope to break the cycle of poverty that is prevalent in the families and communities of the students we serve.
GEO K-8 schools provide a strong classical education through the Core Knowledge and Great Minds curricula including Eureka Math and Wit and Wisdom, and use a blended learning and competency based approach. We use “Teach Like a Champion” strategies and the National Institute for Excellence in Teaching (TAP) system to support our teachers.
Over time we have learned that the biggest barrier to college success is that our students have no frame of reference since only 10% come from homes with any college experience. It is not enough to provide a college curriculum in a high school setting. That’s why the key feature of our College Immersion model is that students take college courses on a college campus. This direct experience gives first generation college students valuable life skills. They learn self discipline, time management, and how to work with others who don't look like them and are not the same age. They mature and gain self confidence to complete college degrees before they graduate from our high school.
GEO pays for college tuition and textbooks and provides academic and social emotional support to our students as well as transportation to and from the campuses of our higher ed partners Ivy Tech Community College, Indiana University -- Northwest, and Purdue University -- Northwest in Indiana, and Baton Rouge Community College, LSU and Southern University in Louisiana.
As a result, GEO’s students routinely rank in the top 5% of the state of Indiana for the number of college credits earned while in high school. Nearly 30% of 21C 2020 graduates earned a full associate degree and/or a career certification in high school. That’s K-14 results with K-12 dollars.
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