Across the country, many parents are coming together around a shared realization: High school options don’t reflect the education — or character building — that they want for their children. Some want a classical curriculum that empowers students to think, not just memorize. Others need an education that brings their faith into every subject. Many seek something affordable that doesn’t sacrifice rigor.

Instead of waiting for an alternative, these parents are starting one. With the support of the Chesterton Schools Network’s classes and planning tools, parents can quickly start classical, integrated high schools that works for them and their children.

This parent-led approach recently won CSN the $1 million Yass Prize — viewed as the “Pulitzer Prize of Education Innovation” — signaling national recognition for a model that treats parents as creators of education, not just consumers.

At a time when parents are seeking greater agency, alignment, and meaning in their children’s education, CSN offers the support and structure to envision something that works for them.

Parents as creators

“Parents have an innate desire to be involved in their students’ education,” said Emily de Rotstein, executive director of CSN. “We’re seeing an increasingly entrepreneurial spirit among parents — but they don’t want to go it alone.”

That tension — between a desire for something different and the capacity to create it — is where CSN’s model shines.

Brandon Vogt, a parent, CSN board member, and founder of the Chesterton Academy of Orlando, was immediately taken with the CSN model and its students.

“It was clear they were smart, virtuous, well-read, great-souled — everything I want my own children to become,” he said, recalling his first interaction with Chesterton students. “I thought, ‘Whatever model of education produced students like that, that’s what we need in Orlando.’”

While Vogt’s family was part of a vibrant Catholic homeschooling community, he was dissatisfied with the available high school options.

“We didn’t find a school that equally featured the three pillars we were looking for: classical, Catholic, and affordable,” Vogt recalled. “Other schools had one of the three, but not all of them. Along with several other local homeschool families, we collectively sensed this model is what we needed, not only for our own kids but for many others in our community.”

A turnkey path to starting a school

Vogt joined CSN, moving through the organization’s stages of discernment and preparation, including an immersive three-day training, known as “Discovery Days,” that shows parents what it really takes to start a school.

If families move forward, they join the cohort process, which offers structured support through monthly classes and planning tools and helps schools recruit students, hire a headmaster, and secure a facility as they prepare to open their doors.

“Starting a high school is hard, wherever and however you do it,” Vogt noted. “But the Chesterton Schools Network makes it as easy as possible.”

CSN’s special sauce is its speed. From a parent’s initial calling to start a school to opening day is roughly 18 months.

“For many families, time is of the essence,” de Rotstein said. “Their kids are approaching high school, and they want to be part of the solution.”

Schools that are joyful — and rigorous

Once a Chesterton school opens, something special happens.

“These schools really become communities of joy,” de Rotstein said.

Named after writer and philosopher G.K. Chesterton, the schools reflect his joyful approach to truth and faith. School hallways echo that spirit, and so do the students.

“We’ve all encountered students who bemoan school merely as something to endure,” Vogt said. “But Chesterton students seem to bear an infectious joy around their school — they actually enjoy attending school and bemoan the summers.”

This joy is not without academic rigor. Every CSN school commits to standards of excellence that guide everything from curriculum and governance to financial sustainability and spiritual formation. Rather than operating as isolated startups, schools are part of a network that offers continuous improvement and accountability.

Students study philosophy, literature, science, math, theology, and the arts. Every student participates in choir and school plays. 

“Our students have flourished in their faith and intellect, families have grown closer to each other, and we’re bearing fruit that will be felt for years to come,” Vogt said. “This past year, we sent our first graduate to the seminary to become a priest for the Diocese of Orlando, and our graduates attend some of the top colleges and universities in the country.”

The transformation happens first in parents

While student outcomes impress, the experience also profoundly transforms parents.

“Starting a school is incredibly challenging,” de Rotstein said. “And you see parents grow — not just in skills, but in humility, charity, and confidence.”

Founding teams learn essential skills like governance and fundraising. As they navigate disagreements and uncertainty, de Rotstein sees parents move from self-doubt to confident leadership.

That was the case for Dale Ahlquist, cofounder of the original Chesterton Academy.

“I certainly never set out to be an ‘authority’ or ‘expert’ on classical secondary education, but that’s what happened,” he said. “I’ve been involved in absolutely every level of running a school, and I’ve made a lifetime of mistakes in just a short time. But now, I can help others avoid these mistakes as they start new schools.”

Students are inspired by their parents’ entrepreneurial spirit, and many alumni return to teach, mentor, and otherwise support their schools.

“They’ve seen that you can do a lot with a little,” de Rotstein said. “They’ve seen joyful sacrifice modeled. And they carry that forward.”

National recognition for a bottom-up model

Winning the Yass Prize was a turning point for CSN and delivered powerful validation.

“To have a respected, secular organization recognize our model for innovation and excellence was incredibly humbling,” de Rotstein said. “It affirmed the power of parents as educational entrepreneurs.”

In many education debates, reform feels abstract and far removed from families’ daily lives. But CSN offers a permissionless path that begins with parents and grows outward into communities.

It doesn’t ask families to sacrifice affordability, academic excellence, or their faith. Instead, it invites them to start schools that reflect who they are and what they value.

As Ahlquist put it, “It all started by wanting the right school for my children, and that unquenchable power — the love of parents for their children — is what sustains the schools in our network.”

The Chesterton Schools Network is supported by Stand Together Trust, which provides funding and strategic capabilities to innovators, scholars, and social entrepreneurs to develop new and better ways to tackle America’s biggest problems.

Learn more about Stand Together's education efforts and explore ways you can partner with us.