Nominated by: Deborah Gist
Diane Tavenner is the founder and CEO of Summit Public Schools, a network of 12 public secondary schools that have flipped the traditional adult-driven model on its head by putting students at the center of a student-driven learning environment. In 2003, Diane founded the first school, Summit Preparatory Charter High School, which has been ranked as a top school by US News & World Report and by Newsweek as one of 10 miracle high schools in the nation. 97% of graduates have been accepted to at least one four-year college, and graduates are completing four-year college degrees at twice the national average. To expand this learning nationwide, Summit collaborated with Facebook to make its model available for free, and more than 130 schools are now participating.
