An Early Look At Microschooling In America

Earlier today, the National Microschooling Center released a new report on microschooling in America based on a survey of 100 current and 100 potential microschool leaders. It paints a fascinating portrait of an emerging sector of the education system at a critical juncture in its history.

By all accounts, microschooling is growing in America. Networks like Prenda, Kaipod, Acton Academies, and Wildflower are expanding across the country. Estimating the total number of microschooling families is challenging, but in several of our recent EdChoice polls one in ten parents have responded that their children are enrolled in a microschool. There are many reasons to believe that number is inflated, but even if the true figure is a quarter of that, we are still talking about millions of schoolchildren.

The study offered numerous interesting findings.

First, while more than half of microschools are located in commercial business spaces or houses of worship, almost 14 percent are located in a private home and 1 percent are located in an employer-owned facility. This diversification of school location both shows the potential for microschools conveniently located close to where people live and work and also raises questions about how issues of zoning, building codes, and the like will intersect with microschooling.

Second, microschools are experimenting with the school day and week. While 54% of microschools are in class full-time, 46% offer some kind of hybrid or part-time schedule. Our polling at EdChoice indicates that a substantial proportion of parents (routinely 40-plus percent) would like some kind of hybrid schedule, and the numbers of microschools offering such a school week lines up quite closely to those figures.

Third, to comply with local regulations, around a third of microschools operate as private schools, while just over 44% operate as “learning centers” catering to homeschooled students. It is an underappreciated fact that states actually regulate private schools to a substantial degree, and it appears that many microschools are not able to function within those strictures. By operating as a learning or enrichment center for students who are classified by the state as homeschooled, schools are able to operate in the ways that they want to. It is not clear if this is the optimal path going forward.

Perhaps surprisingly, only 27% of microschools include faith-based instruction. As with homeschooling, there is a stereotype that those looking for smaller learning environments outside of the typical public or public charter school are doing so for religious reasons. It is increasingly untrue for traditional homeschoolers, and it also appears to be the case for microschoolers. That said, 50% of the survey’s respondents indicated that their school does subscribe to a particular learning philosophy like Waldorf or Montessori.

When asked about their needs, more than a quarter of microschool leaders surveyed said that they needed better training in statutes and regulations, business management, governance, selecting and implementing learning tools, or marketing. This shouldn’t surprise us, given leaders’ answers to the preceding questions. They need to navigate a minefield of regulations and requirements, from city and county zoning rules to building codes to private school regulations. Not only that, they need to be small business operators as well as instructional leaders. A tall order.

There are three big takeaways from this study.

The first is that both current and future microschool leaders need support. They need help on the education side of their operations, they need help on the business side of their operations, and they need help on the compliance side of their operations. The traditional public school system has a vast network of schools of education and alternative preparation and certification programs that train teachers and school leaders in all of those areas. Microschooling could use similar institutions.

The second is that the uncertain regulatory environment is going to continue to cause headaches. Microschool leaders need support because the area that they are working in is confusing. Private school regulations, homeschooling regulations, and learning center regulations weave into a complex web that can ensnare school leaders. Enterprising state legislators and bureaucrats in state departments of education looking to expand microschooling would do well to streamline, clarify, and simplify these provisions.

The third is that, stipulating all of what I have just written, it is a truly exciting time for microschooling in specific and educational innovation in general. The fact that so many passionate people are entering the field with clear ideas about the kinds of educational environments they want to create, the communities that they want to build, and the children that they wanted to serve portends good things for schooling in America.

Here’s hoping that what we’ve learned from this report and other surveys will shape the policy decisions necessary to support, rather than hinder these schools.

(Full disclosure: I sit on an advisory board for the National Microschooling Center. It is an unpaid position.)