By Kerry McDonald Tears filled Maria Castaneda’s eyes as she recalled moving her son from a Las Vegas charter school to a microschool in 2020. She explained that in the charter school, her 7th grader was excelling academically but was growing increasingly withdrawn and angry. “I pulled him out because in that situation it brought out the worst of him, not the best of him,” … [Read more...] about Microschools Are Proving to Be a Winning Option in Las Vegas
Microschool
The (Further) Case for the Free Market in Education
By Kerry McDonald In 1964, Leonard Read wrote a powerful essay celebrating the free market in education. Read, who founded FEE nearly two decades prior to promote individual and economic freedom, recognized the ways in which government control of the K-12 education sector constrained choice and prevented diversity and abundance of learning options. In “The Case for the … [Read more...] about The (Further) Case for the Free Market in Education
5 Surprising Facts About Microschooling
By Kerry McDonald One of the most popular and fastest-growing educational trends today is microschooling. Microschools are intentionally small, mixed-age, K-12 learning communities with personalized curriculum approaches that are sprouting rapidly across the U.S. They harken back to the one-room schoolhouses of yesteryear and were gaining traction even before the education … [Read more...] about 5 Surprising Facts About Microschooling
How Microschool Networks Are Activating Education Entrepreneurs
By Kerry McDonald When Katelyn Shore opened the first Wildflower Montessori microschool in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 2014, she hoped it would be the start of something big. The vision, introduced by Sep Kamvar at the MIT Media Lab, was to create an open-source network of intentionally small, storefront, neighborhood Montessori microschools that would offer the tools and … [Read more...] about How Microschool Networks Are Activating Education Entrepreneurs
Why Former School Teachers Are Earning More Money As Education Entrepreneurs
By Kerry McDonald When Emily Williams told her parents back in early 2020 that she was leaving her job as a certified public school teacher to launch a microschool, they thought she was crazy. Both longtime public school educators themselves, they couldn’t understand why Williams, who taught in Mississippi public schools for more than a decade, would want to give up a good … [Read more...] about Why Former School Teachers Are Earning More Money As Education Entrepreneurs
“100 Schools in 10 Years”, Award-Winning Microschool Founder Shares Her Vision
By Kerry McDonald “Mom, I can’t do it anymore,” said Iman Alleyne’s four-year-old son about his pre-kindergarten program. Plagued by anxiety-induced stomach aches and daily crying episodes over going to school, Alleyne’s son was sending clear signals that he needed a different learning environment. At the same time, Alleyne was also feeling dissatisfied in her job as a … [Read more...] about “100 Schools in 10 Years”, Award-Winning Microschool Founder Shares Her Vision
Will the Microschool Movement Last? Lessons from the 1960s “Free Schools”
By Kerry McDonald Over the past couple of years, there has been a surge in the number of microschools spreading across the country. These small, multi-age, co-learning communities with hired educators were gaining popularity before the educational upheaval of 2020, but they were still very much at the edge of the educational landscape. The disruption caused by the pandemic … [Read more...] about Will the Microschool Movement Last? Lessons from the 1960s “Free Schools”
Microschools Remain A Popular Back-To-School Option This Year
By Kerry McDonald Josh Pickel’s dissatisfaction as a teacher was mounting. After several years of teaching in other public schools, mostly at the elementary level, he was finally back in his hometown of Canton, Illinois teaching middle school science at the public school he attended as a child. It was what he had always wanted; yet, he was feeling increasingly … [Read more...] about Microschools Remain A Popular Back-To-School Option This Year
How Disruptive Innovation Is Accelerating the Growth of Alternative Learning Models
By Kerry McDonald Disruptive innovation usually begins on the margins, with a few, intrepid users embracing a new product or service. Abetted by new technologies, a disruptive innovation penetrates the mainstream when its quality is proven to be as good, if not better, than more established models. According to author and investor, Michael Horn, a classic example of … [Read more...] about How Disruptive Innovation Is Accelerating the Growth of Alternative Learning Models
How One State Went From Bottom to Top in Education Choice and Innovation
By Kerry McDonald In addition to expansive education choice policies, the Mountain State has seen the growth of microschools, learning pods, homeschooling collaboratives, and low-cost private schools that are meeting parent demand for more education possibilities. West Virginia has experienced a dramatic expansion of educational freedom over the past year, from the state … [Read more...] about How One State Went From Bottom to Top in Education Choice and Innovation
With KaiPod, Parents Decide What Their Children Learn
By Kerry McDonald Curriculum battles in public schools across the US have reached a fever pitch in recent years, with parents and politicians fighting about what children should and should not be taught. The Cato Institute’s Neal McCluskey keeps a running list of these battles, explaining that “rather than build bridges, public schooling often forces people into … [Read more...] about With KaiPod, Parents Decide What Their Children Learn
Empowerment, Exit and Entrepreneurship Will Continue to Transform Education
By Kerry McDonald Over the past two years of social and economic disruption, U.S. education has experienced an extraordinary transformation that can best be defined by 3 “Es”: Empowerment, Exit and Entrepreneurship. Empowerment Beginning in the spring of 2020, and prompted by widespread school closures and remote schooling, parents began to reclaim control of their … [Read more...] about Empowerment, Exit and Entrepreneurship Will Continue to Transform Education