The Empowerment Schools Organization was born out of the Autonomy Zone pilot which began in the 2004-05 school year with 29 schools and the demand steadily grew from there. In the second year of the pilot (2005-06 school year), the Autonomy Zone grew to 48 schools. In the 2006-07 school year, its first year beyond the pilot program, Empowerment Schools expanded to 332 throughout the city inclusive of all grade ranges. There are 500 Empowerment Schools in the 2007-08 school year.

Over the last three years, principals have indicated high levels of satisfaction. According to a survey of 2006-07 Empowerment School principals:

• 99% are glad they joined Empowerment Schools,
• 92% feel that being an Empowerment School has had a positive of highly positive impact on their school community,
• Almost 90% are satisfied with the support they receive from their Network Leader,
• More than 90% feel that their overall classroom instruction has improved as a result of being an Empowerment School,
• 95% believe that being an Empowerment School has improved the use of data by teachers, and
• 98% see an improvement in the use of financial resources as result of being an Empowerment School.