Opening Fall 2027 · Cleveland, Ohio

A School Built on What Cleveland Already Has

A tuition-free public charter school opening Fall 2027 in Cleveland, Ohio. Built by people who know this city and believe its students deserve a direct path to economic opportunity.

Cleveland is home to a nationally recognized healthcare system, a manufacturing sector on the rise, and growing technology infrastructure. The institutions exist. The careers exist. Cleveland students deserve a school that builds a real bridge to them.

Rooted School Cleveland is that bridge. Our founding career pathways in health sciences, advanced manufacturing, and information technology are paired with rigorous college-prep academics inside a 6th through 12th grade continuum. Students do not have to choose between college and a career. They graduate with both.

Every graduate leaves with a college acceptance in one hand and a job offer in the other. The choice between them is theirs.

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Part of the Rooted School Foundation Network

A model serving students across multiple cities, built around one promise: 100% college acceptance and 100% job offer upon graduation. That is our North Star in every community we enter.

The North Star
Every Graduate Leaves with a College Acceptance and a Job Offer
Not a promise for some. A promise for all.
6–12

A 6–12 Continuum

One school, one community from middle through high school. Same teachers, same advisors, same pathway mentors across the full arc of a student's growth.

250+

Work-Based Learning Hours

Real workplace experiences built into the program with local healthcare, manufacturing, and technology employers.

★

Industry Partners in the Building

Healthcare, manufacturing, and IT professionals help design and validate student work in each career pathway.

The Rooted Standard
100%
College Acceptance Rate
100%
Job Offer Upon Graduation
250+
Work-Based Learning Hours
15:1
Student-Teacher Ratio
The North Star first set at Rooted School New Orleans. The standard we hold ourselves to in Cleveland. The 15:1 ratio and 250+ work-based learning hours are design targets modeled on the New Orleans program.
Our Model

The Double Helix of Learning

College and career are not parallel tracks at Rooted School Cleveland. They are braided strands. Academic preparation and industry pathway, intertwined from 6th grade forward.

Every graduate carries both. The same student takes college-prep coursework and earns credentials of value. The same student writes a college essay and completes paid work-based learning. The same student walks into senior year with a college acceptance and a job offer in hand.

Not a "choose one" school. The Double Helix is the design.

The North Star
Every Graduate Leaves with a College Acceptance and a Job Offer
Academic Strand
Rigorous Academics
Grade 6
Foundational Agility
Core literacy and numeracy that set the base for college readiness and professional agility.
Grade 8
Curricular Alignment & HQIM
Instruction anchored in high-quality instructional materials and consistent lesson design.
Grade 11
Self-Directed Learning
Students manage their own data, set goals, and drive pacing through Personalized Learning Plans.
Grade 12
Data-Driven Mastery
An evidence-to-action cycle identifies academic gaps and closes them through timely intervention.
Problem-Based Learning
The bridge · Career awareness · Gap closing
Career Strand
Career-Connected Learning
From Grade 6
Career-Connected Application
Students connect academic skills to real industry problems from their first year.
Grades 9–12
Industry-Based Credentials
Stackable, external proof of employability validated against recognized industry standards.
Grades 11–12
Internships & Work-Based Learning
Progression from career awareness to paid professional placements and apprenticeships.
The Outcome
Long-Term Economic Mobility
Curriculum backward-mapped from the wage and wealth-building outcomes that last beyond graduation.
The Strands in Practice
Academic Coursework
Career Application
Science · Forces and Motion
Students study force, motion, friction, and energy transfer through hands-on physics experiments.
Engineering · Robot Design
Students design, build, and test robots to complete a challenge course, then analyze performance with engineer mentors and iterate.
Algebra · Proportional Reasoning
Students learn ratios, proportional relationships, measurement, and percent error.
Manufacturing · Quality Inspection
Students inspect manufactured parts, compare measurements to design specs, calculate tolerances, and determine whether products meet standards.
Biology · Human Body Systems
Students study human body systems, disease processes, and scientific reasoning.
Health Sciences · Patient Case Analysis
Students analyze patient cases, identify symptoms, evaluate treatment options, and defend recommendations to healthcare professionals.
Career Pathways

Cleveland's Economy. Your Student's Future.

Our founding career pathways are in fields where Cleveland has real institutional strength and real employer demand. Students are not preparing for abstract careers. They are preparing to work alongside institutions that are already here. Specific course sequences and credentials are finalized as part of our pre-opening program design.

Students in a clinical simulation lab

Health Sciences

Students prepare for careers in nursing, patient care, medical assisting, and clinical support through hands-on simulations and partnerships with Cleveland's healthcare institutions. Cleveland is home to some of the most respected healthcare organizations in the country. Students in this pathway build real clinical skills alongside working professionals.

Certified Nursing Assistant · Patient Care Tech
Students working with precision manufacturing equipment

Advanced Manufacturing

Cleveland's manufacturing economy is evolving from legacy steel into precision technology, robotics, and automation. Students learn CNC machining, CAD design, mechatronics, and quality control alongside Northeast Ohio manufacturers who need this talent.

CNC Machining · Mechatronics · Precision Manufacturing
Students coding and working with network infrastructure

Information Technology

Students build systems, troubleshoot networks, and solve real technical problems for partner organizations. IT credentials transfer across industries and remain among the most portable, high-demand credentials a student can earn before graduation.

CompTIA A+ · Network Support · Systems Administration
What Learning Looks Like

Signature Experiences

Relationships are built in the work.

When students tackle a real problem together, defend their thinking in front of a panel, or watch a teammate revise and succeed, something lasting takes root.

At Rooted, Signature Experiences challenge students to solve problems, create products, and present their thinking to authentic audiences. As students collaborate, overcome obstacles, and work toward shared goals, they develop the trust, confidence, and sense of belonging that come from accomplishing something meaningful together.

Middle School · Engineering

The Boat Build

Students receive a budget, a weight limit, and a body of water. Their job: design a vessel that floats, carries the most weight, and survives a stress test. Over four weeks, they research hull geometry, run load calculations, test materials, revise their designs, and present to a panel of industry partners.There is no answer key. There is only the water.
What students produce
A seaworthy vessel that holds weight under load, plus a written design defense presented to a panel of engineers and community partners.
Skills Developed
Engineering design processMathematical reasoningIterative problem solvingTeam accountability
Health Sciences · Clinical Reasoning

The Diagnosis

Students receive a patient case file: symptoms, vitals, lab results, patient history. Working in clinical teams, they develop a differential diagnosis and care recommendation. Every decision has to be documented and defended. They present to a panel that includes working clinicians from Cleveland's healthcare sector.Real patient cases, evaluated by working clinicians.
What students produce
A written clinical recommendation with supporting documentation, presented and defended before a panel of working healthcare professionals.
Skills Developed
Clinical reasoningDocumentation literacyEvidence-based decisionsProfessional communication
Information Technology · Robotics

The Relay

Students build and program a small robot and compete in teams on a relay course. They choose between AI-assisted navigation and manual remote control, and live with that call when the race starts. Local IT professionals debrief each team: What did you decide? Why? What would you do differently?The robot runs the course. The team owns the decision.
What students produce
A functioning, programmed robot that completes the course, plus a written engineering rationale defending the team's design and navigation decisions.
Skills Developed
Systems designCoded logicAI decision makingStrategic thinking
Advanced Manufacturing · Materials Science

The Prototype

Students receive a design brief from a manufacturing partner: build a functional component to specification. They work in precision teams through measurement, material selection, machining, and quality inspection. The finished part is evaluated against the actual spec sheet used in production.The tolerances are real. The accountability is real.
What students produce
A manufactured component evaluated against the partner's actual production spec sheet, with accompanying quality inspection documentation.
Skills Developed
Precision measurementMaterials scienceQuality controlTechnical documentation

These experiences are more than projects. They are defining moments in a student's journey—opportunities to apply academic learning, engage with professionals, produce work they are proud of, and contribute to a community built around curiosity, effort, and achievement.

Over time, students learn that belonging is not something they simply receive; it is something they help create. By working alongside peers, educators, and industry professionals, they develop the habits and confidence to contribute meaningfully to the teams, workplaces, and professional communities they will join after graduation.

The Advisory Model

Every Student Has Someone Who Knows Them

Academic confidence has to be paired with belonging. Our advisory structure is how we make sure no student falls through.

01

Small, Close-Knit Groupings

Advisory groups are deliberately small. Every student has a dedicated adult who knows their academic progress, their goals, their struggles, and what they need to show up at their best.

02

Deliberate Daily Community Building

Advisory is structured, daily, and intentional. It builds the trust between students that makes the hard academic work possible.

03

Whole-Character Support

Advisors support students academically, personally, and professionally. When a student is struggling, in the classroom or outside of it, there is an adult who already knows them well enough to help.

04

Confidence That Travels

Student-led conferences bring together the advisor, the family, and the student as a team. Students learn to advocate for themselves, track their own growth, and name what they need. That skill travels with them into every environment they enter after Rooted School Cleveland.

Students who feel known perform differently. Not just in school, but in every post-secondary environment they enter.

Advisory is the structure that holds academic confidence in place when students leave the classroom.

Our Journey

From Vision to Opening Day.

The path from a community vision to an authorized school takes years of deliberate work. Below is the real sequence of how Rooted School Cleveland is being built.

Rooted School Foundation brought the operational model. Future Ready Cleveland brought the civic relationships. The Cleveland community brings the mission, the trust, and the students.

Summer 2025

Cleveland Identified as Next Launch Site

Rooted School Foundation identifies Cleveland as its next city for expansion. Research into Cleveland's economy, demographics, and existing school options confirms strong fit with the Rooted model.

Fall 2025

Community Engagement Begins

Founding committee convened. Community listening sessions across Cleveland neighborhoods. Future Ready Cleveland engaged as the primary civic and philanthropic partner.

Spring 2026

Community and Industry Partnerships Develop

Founding partnerships with Cleveland employers and civic organizations begin taking shape, connecting the school's career pathways to real opportunities in the local economy.

Summer 2026 We are here

Authorization Process Underway

The charter application is in progress with our Ohio authorizer. We are actively building community awareness, growing our interest list, and preparing for a Fall 2027 opening.

Late 2026

Authorization Confirmed · Enrollment Opens

Authorization is expected in late 2026. Enrollment applications will open for the inaugural Fall 2027 cohort, accepting students currently in 5th and 8th grade.

August 2027

First Day

Rooted School Cleveland opens its doors to the founding cohort. The beginning of a 6th through 12th grade continuum that will reach full enrollment by 2030.

Read the full journey →
Leadership

Built by People Who Have Done This Before

Tim Jones

Tim Jones

Executive Director, Rooted School Cleveland

Tim Jones is the founding Executive Director of Rooted School Cleveland. He previously founded and led Davis Aerospace and Maritime High School in Cleveland, Ohio, building it from the design phase into one of the city's most applied-to high schools. At Davis, Tim designed a project-based learning model with career-connected pathways in aviation, maritime, and STEM, tracked more than 10,000 verified student work-based learning hours, and implemented data systems that increased the school's Performance Index from 59.3 to 76.6 and its Progress rating from 3 to 5 stars. His work drew visits from U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg and the U.S. Department of Education. Prior to Davis, he served as Assistant Principal at the Urban Assembly School for Applied Math and Science in New York City. He holds an M.A. in Mathematics Education from Columbia University Teachers College.

Jonathan Johnson

Jonathan Johnson

CEO, Rooted School Foundation

Jonathan Johnson is the founder and CEO of Rooted School Foundation, a nonprofit network of schools across multiple cities focused on increasing upward mobility for young people faster than local projections. He founded Rooted School New Orleans, where students graduate with a college acceptance in one hand and a job offer in the other. Jonathan also leads The $50 Study, the first extensive randomized control trial exploring the impact of direct cash transfers to youth through schools. An Aspen Economic Opportunity Fellow, he holds a BA from Chapman University.

Steven Carney

Steven Carney

Sr. Director of Growth and Innovation, Rooted School Foundation

Steven Carney leads new school growth, authorization, and support across the Rooted School Foundation network. His work is grounded in evidence-based practice, implementation science, and equity in education. He has founded and led schools including Rooted School Vancouver and the nationally ranked Western Sierra Collegiate Academy. He holds a Bachelor's in Education from San Diego State University and a Master's in Organizational Leadership from National University.

"

Cleveland has one of the great healthcare institutions on earth, a manufacturing sector that is reinventing itself, and a generation of students who deserve a direct path to both. Rooted School Cleveland exists because that path should not depend on where you were born or what neighborhood you grew up in.

Tim Jones · Executive Director, Rooted School Cleveland

Our Cleveland Community and Industry Partners

These organizations help design our curriculum, validate student work, and provide work-based learning opportunities rooted in Cleveland's economy.

Additional partners being announced. Contact us to discuss partnership opportunities.

Community Events

Where to Find Us

Between now and Fall 2027, you will find us across Cleveland at info sessions, office hours, virtual Q&As, and community gatherings. Come ask questions. Meet our founding team. Bring a neighbor.

Save the Date

Enrollment opens in late 2026 for our inaugural Fall 2027 cohort.

Mark Your Interest
Common Questions

Things Families Ask Most

Is Rooted School Cleveland really tuition-free?
Yes. Rooted School Cleveland is a tuition-free public charter school open to all students living in our enrollment area. There are no application fees, tuition, or hidden costs.
When does enrollment open and how do I apply?
We are building our interest list now. Enrollment opens in late 2026 for our inaugural Fall 2027 cohort. We open with two founding grades, 6th and 9th, and will accept applications from students currently in 5th and 8th grade. Mark your interest below to be the first to know when applications go live.
What is the 6–12 continuum?
Rooted School Cleveland serves grades 6 through 12 inside one school. Most students will be with the same teachers, advisors, and pathway mentors across multiple years. Pathway exploration starts in 6th grade. The continuum is by design. It lets students build deep relationships, develop their pathway over time, and avoid the transition jolt of switching schools at the start of 9th grade. By Fall 2030 the school will be a full 6–12 continuum.
What career pathways will be available?
Our founding career pathways are health sciences, advanced manufacturing, and information technology. Each pathway combines academic rigor with real-world experience and credentials of value. As the school grows and our community shapes what is next, the pathway lineup will grow with it.
How can I stay informed?
Mark your interest below, or attend one of our upcoming community events. Our team is available by email at info@rootedschoolcle.org for individual questions.

Phone

Coming soon

Email

info@rootedschoolcle.org

Follow Along

Instagram · Facebook

Enrollment Opens Late 2026

Mark your interest and we will keep you informed as enrollment opens. Our founding Fall 2027 cohort is for students currently in 5th and 8th grade. Families with younger students are welcome to share their interest now. The school grows one grade per year on each side until we reach a full 6–12 continuum.

You are marking interest in
Or come meet us in person

We hold info sessions, virtual Q&As, office hours, and community events across Cleveland. See upcoming events

Takes 30 seconds. No application, no commitment. We will never share your information.