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After billions in failed big bets, funders and schools are turning to this small education nonprofit

NEON has delivered 60 college credit courses to 40,000 students across 33 states, with an 80% course pass rate improving college attendance and persistence.

  • After large private education bets stumbled, NEON, a small nonprofit, drew funding from major philanthropies including Carnegie and Henry McCance, with 32 staff and $7.5 million revenue last year.
  • Drawing on a 2017 analysis by Raj Chetty, Leslie Cornfeld launched NEON after visits to Title I high schools showed talented students were overlooked by selective U.S. colleges.
  • Research tracking confirms that NEON's model, combining professors, trained teachers, and undergraduate mentors, delivers 60 courses from 17 universities to more than 40,000 high school students with an 80 percent pass rate.
  • District leaders are adopting NEON courses at scale as Adrienne Battle, superintendent of Metro Nashville Public Schools, has expanded offerings and NEON learners enter college with a year of coursework.
  • Funders support NEON’s goal to reach 1 million Title I high schools within a decade, but capital remains a key hurdle despite grants from Carnegie and backing from Henry McCance.
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27 Articles

Omaha World-HeraldOmaha World-Herald
+16 Reposted by 16 other sources
Center

After billions in failed big bets, funders and schools turn to small education nonprofit

Education is the civil rights issue of our time. That's what Leslie Cornfeld decided after a decade advising New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and President Obama's two education secretaries — and seeing how few low-income students went to the…

·Omaha, United States
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Associated Press NewsAssociated Press News
+8 Reposted by 8 other sources
Lean Left

After billions in failed big bets, funders and schools are turning to this small education nonprofit

Leslie Cornfeld launched the National Education Opportunity Network, or NEON, to address educational inequality.

·United States
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Winnipeg Free Press broke the news in Winnipeg, Canada on Friday, October 17, 2025.
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