California's top-performing large school system serving predominantly low-income students. It serves 12,000 students in grades K-12 with a rigorous, college-preparatory education. All graduating seniors are accepted to four year colleges.
Aspire was incorporated in 1998 and set up its first school in California's Lodi Unified School District in January 1999. It was located in former grocery store in a strip mall in North Stockton. The school opened in September 1999, along with a sister school in Modesto. In November, 1999, the NewSchools Venture Fund provided a $500k grant to build the organization. (Here's a complete timeline of the program.)
By 2012, Aspire operated approximately three dozen schools, clustered in the San Francisco Bay area, the Central Valley and the Los Angeles area.
