The 74 online published an article today entitled “10 Education Entrepreneurs Offer Advice To New Founders in 2024.” The article was written by Kerry McDonald, the host of the LiberatED podcast. The advice contained in the article came from McDonald’s podcast interviews over the past few months. Here’s their entrepreneurial advice, along with commentary from me:
“Listen to Families – Network and learn from families within your community. Build your model in a way that meets needs while also staying true to your vision. Lastly, tap into others who have had success in breaking educational barriers…Mercedes Grant, founder of Path of Life Learning, a K-8 microschool in Yorktown, Virginia.”
I would go one step beyond Grant’s advice by saying families should play an integral part in developing the young learner’s plan about the knowledge, skills, and experiences they will set as goals moving forward. And one more piece of advice, your vision as a learning organization founder should be the sum of all of your young learner’s visions about what they want to learn, how they want to learn it, and how they will know that they’ve learned it.
“See Beyond the Existing System – If you’ve spent any time working in the traditional school system, you’ve seen it fail students simply for not fitting into the required boxes. Consider your values, be bold, separate yourself from that system, and build a new box for some of those young people. Josh Pickel, founder of Canton Learning Collaborative, a full-time self-directed learning center for teens in Canton, Illinois.”
Josh’s advice is easier said than done. Our experience with our personalized learning lab school, years ago now, suggests that the traditional school paradigm is so powerful that even families that have children struggling and failing within that system are hesitant to leave that system. So, just because you build it, doesn’t mean they will leave their traditional school space and come to you.
“Don’t Ignore Your Instincts – If you are hearing a voice inside telling you to open a school, whether it’s a whisper or a scream, please listen to it! That voice is the sound of little humans begging for something different; that makes more sense; that prepares them for life (and lets them enjoy it)! They need you – now more than ever. It might not be easy, but it’s worth it! So get to it. I’ll be cheering you on. Heather DiNino, founder of Elements Academy, a learner-directed PreK-12 microschool in Braintree, Massachusetts.”
It’s been my experience that starting a learning organization is easier than it might originally seem. You really need three things to start. First, you need young learners. Second, you need an adult learning leader. And third, you need money to support a learning budget. For middle class folks all three are easier than if you are black, brown, or poor in this country. A big inequity in America is the fact that black, brown, and poor families can’t access public dollars to establish their own learning pods, microschools, or another type of learning organization. So, middle class folks get to start their own learning organizations while poor folks, again mainly black and brown, have no choice but to send their kids to their neighborhood school, which is more than often a sucky school.
“Break the Mold – It Might be Scary But Will Be So Much More Fulfilling – There will be days that feel as though this is an experiment and the temptation to return to the status quo is real. That former place may not have been fulfilling, but at the very least, it was more predictable. On days like that, don’t give in. Lizette Valles, founder of Ellemercito Academy, an experiential, learner-centered microschool in Los Angeles, California.”
Again, the traditional school paradigm is powerful. Even though too many schools fail in delivering quality learning to most of their kids, it just turns out easier for everyone, especially the adults involved, to keep sending kids to sucky schools. The only way to reach a tipping point away from this type of behavior is to find more Lizette Valles’s in this world and give them the power and authority to make a difference in children’s lives.
“Be Part of the Change You Want to See – Traditional education may be the mainstream but our children deserve innovative options. Listen to the calling for education reform! Your unique vision and mission to meet the educational needs of all children will have great rewards. Sharon Masinelli, founder of St. John the Baptist Hybrid School, a K-12 hybrid homeschool program in Kennesaw, Georgia.”
Our children deserve innovative options, which is something most traditional schools seem unwilling to offer. So even though we’ll always have a traditional option when it comes to teaching and learning, why is it that kids and their families don’t have better choices when it comes to their learning?
More tomorrow. Til then. SVB
A Better Path to Learning 
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