Saved Schools

Red Bridge

Red Bridge, nominated by Transcend, is an elementary/middle school in San Francisco, California that describes itself as a independent (private) school serving learners from a primarily urban area.

Location San Francisco, California

Governance Independent (private) school

Grades Elementary, Middle

Students 54

Locale Urban

Head of School Orly Friedman

Demographics

Percentage of students*

15%

English Learners

20%

Free/Reduced Lunch

30%

Students with Disabilities

African American or Black 10%

American Indian/Alaska Native

Asian 20%

Hawaiian or Pacific Islander

Hispanic or Latino 15%

White 40%

2+ Races 15%

Why Red Bridge was nominated

Red Bridge's mission is to develop a sense of agency in every child as the foundation for academic and life success. Their definition of agency is the following: the ability to set meaningful goals and have the will and skill to achieve them. At Red Bridge, the learning environment is intentionally designed to grow a set of habits/transferable skills that equip learners to enact their agency now and in the future. These skills set learners up for lifeline learning and include work habits, character habits, communication and computational habits, and more. Red Bridge has developed an agentic curriculum as well as processes, routines, and structures to support agency development. At Red Bridge, learners set meaningful goals regularly with support, engage in deliberate skill building on habit formation, reflect on their progress with a learning guide, and participate in choice-fulled, student-led learning experiences.

Student experience design

The learning environment at Red Bridge is meant to support students in setting meaningful goals, making a plan to achieve them, accessing resources that will support their progress, having time to work and reflect, and having time for deep collaboration and connection with adults and peers.

Core Practices

Core Practices Length of Use

Competency/mastery-based Education

5+ years

1:1 Mentoring

5+ years

Project-based Learning

5+ years

SEL Curriculum

5+ years

Student-led Goal Setting

5+ years

All Practices

Advancement On Mastery

Student Advisories

Anti-racist Practices

Assessments For Agency And Self-directed Learning

Assessments For Deeper Learning

Assessments For Social-emotional Skills

Blended Learning

Co-leadership

Competency Framework

Culturally Responsive Practices

Disaggregated Data On Student Participation

Flexible Staffing & Alternative Teaching Roles

Grading Policies Focus On Mastery

Hiring For Equity And Inclusion Values

All Courses Designed For Inclusion

Interdisciplinary

Interoperable Data From Multiple Technologies

Individual Learner Profiles

Individual Learning Paths

Multi-age Classrooms

Multiple Opportunities To Demonstrate Mastery

Peer To Peer Support

Performance Based Assessment

Physical Well Being Services

Place-based Learning

Reallocation Of Resources For Those Most In Need

Restorative Practices

SEL Integration School-wide

Student-led Conferences

Students Access Their Own Data

Self-paced Learning

Students Develop Projects

Tutoring

Universal Design For Learning

key reasons for innovating

Demonstrate what’s possible for other schools

Date Updated: 4/1/2025

*Canopy profile data is self-reported or sourced from NCES data, then verified by school leaders.