Is 2023 the year of the microschool?
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Loading... - Liam Bakker
- 01 Mar 2023
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While barely a blimp on the global scale, it could impact learning trajectories for millions of American students
With all the surprises sprung on the world over the last few years, it can be both exciting and frightening to imagine what 2023 might hold. Will this be a year defined by amazing breakthroughs for humanity—like cracking the formula for nuclear fusion and clearing a path to abundant clean energy? Or will it be a year loaded with new challenges—such as a global recession or escalating tensions between powerful nations?
Amidst the tectonic shifts that may be on the global horizon, there’s a comparatively smaller phenomenon brewing in US K-12 education. While barely a blimp on the global scale, it could impact learning trajectories for millions of American students and have a significant impact on the conventional model of schooling. What warrants this attention? Microschools.
What are microschools?
The concept of microschooling gained traction throughout the 2010s, then saw a huge uptick in both interest and new examples during the pandemic. EdChoice estimates that as many as 2.2 million children could be in microschools full time. But what are they? Defining the term can be tricky because they come in so many variations and run with somewhat synonymous terms like learning pods, learning hubs, and some versions of hybrid homeschooling.
Barnett Barry, a research professor at the University of South Carolina, offers a good description of microschools in an article he wrote for The Conversation. “As their name suggests, microschools, which serve K-12 students, are very small schools that typically serve 10 to 15 students, but sometimes as many as 150. They can have very different purposes but tend to share common characteristics, such as more personalized and project-based learning. They also tend to have closer adult-child relationships in which teachers serve as facilitators of student-led learning, not just deliverers of content.”
Some of the better-known examples of microschools include national name brands like the Acton Academy schools, Wildflower Schools, Prenda microschools and the Khan Lab School. But most microschools today, especially those that have sprung up since the pandemic, tend to be local learning communities, often serving students of mixed ages, created by entrepreneurial parents or educators. In the last year, organizations such as the National Microschooling Center and KaiPod Catalyst have launched to support the people and communities creating microschools. Read More…
