Moving schools beyond grades
Mastery.org is the company behind the Mastery Transcript® and the consortium of schools that use it. We help schools show what students can actually do, and we help colleges read it.
- 2017
Launches with 54 founding schools
0 accepting colleges
- 2019
First transcript reaches a college
55+ accepting colleges by spring
- 2024
Joins ETS
500+ accepting colleges
- 2026
A new chapter as Mastery.org
823 accepting colleges
A record of real student work, built by schools and read by colleges
Schools build the record
Each school defines its own competencies and builds every Mastery Transcript from real coursework and the skills students demonstrate, not just a letter grade.
Colleges read it
Admissions offices read the Mastery Transcript as easily as traditional grades, and our team reaches out to every college a student applies to.
Students admitted to college with a Mastery Transcript
Colleges and universities accept the Mastery Transcript
Member schools and districts in the consortium
A better way to show what students know
The idea sparked in 2014 at Hawken School in Cleveland, where head of school Scott Looney saw the most basic of all high school documents, the transcript, as a boulder in the way of high school innovation. The Mastery Transcript Consortium® launched in 2017 with 54 founding schools, and the movement has been growing since.
That 99 percent of high school transcripts follow an identical format is a vestige of an outdated industrial age. We hope to reflect a new age that demands a new approach to education.
Scott Looney
Founder of MTC; Head of School, Hawken
From the Consortium to Mastery.org
In 2026 the Mastery Transcript Consortium moved on from ETS under new ownership and now goes to market as Mastery.org. The name is new; the mission is not.
Read the letter from our foundersWhat stays the same for members
- The product you use stays the same.
- Your pricing stays the same.
- The community, symposium, and events continue.
New ownership means more investment in the movement, not less.
The people you'll work with
Matt Sornson
Matt built Clearbit before co-founding Legend. He grew up around educators and now works on better ways to show what students know.
Aaron Rasmussen
Aaron co-founded MasterClass and Outlier.org. He brings that experience to building learning tools more students can access.
Jason Cummings
Jason works directly with member schools, making sure their needs shape the consortium's work.
Matthew Alexander
Matthew builds the systems that help schools discover Mastery.org and join the consortium.
Waseem Hussain
Waseem builds the tools schools use to create mastery-based records and share them with colleges.
John Otander
John builds the Mastery.org platform. Before joining, he worked on data and developer tools at Clearbit, Gatsby, and Components AI.
Peter Laipson
Peter helps member schools put mastery-based learning into practice, drawing on three decades in secondary and higher education.
Iliana Gonzalez
Iliana helps admissions teams understand the Mastery Transcript and brings fifteen years of experience in nonprofit education and enrollment.
Education Advisory Council
Scott Looney
Chair of the Advisory Council Founder of MTC Head of School, Hawken
Tim Knowles
President, Carnegie Foundation
On a mission to replace the Carnegie Unit with competency-based learning.
Susie Bell
Senior Advisor; former Superintendent
Proved a whole district could go mastery-based.
Andrew Ho
Professor of Education, Harvard
Keeps the measurement science as rigorous as the mission is ambitious.
Denise Pope
Co-Founder, Challenge Success; Senior Lecturer, Stanford
Has the receipts on what grade pressure does to kids.
Ted Dintersmith
Author, What School Could Be
Visited 200 schools in all fifty states to find out what school could be.
Laura Slover
Managing Director, Skills for the Future, ETS
Making durable skills as measurable as math.
Mike Flanagan
CEO, E3n
Built the platform that turned the mastery idea into a working transcript.
Debra Wilson
President, NAIS
Brings the voice of the independent school world to the council.
Lisa Reyes
Psychometrician, Salesforce
Knows what employers actually accept as proof of a skill.