What’s Wrong with a Microschool?

Why aren’t more high schools embracing the microschool idea?

Microschools are small learning groups that train young learners to define, plan, execute, and evaluate their own learning. The goals of most microschools are to make young learners better readers, writers, problem-solvers, and to build character.

Ten years ago or more, my educational non-profit supported a young high school principal while he and his staff launched a small microschool inside his larger campus. Specifically, young learners who struggled with the traditional instruction the larger school offered were given an opportunity to join the microschool. Almost everyone who joined was classified as a freshman, and new to high school.

The small microschool identified two talented adult learning leaders – one a literacy expert and the other possessing expertise in problem-solving – to lead a group of 50 young learners. At the end of the year, while the school’s remaining freshmen struggled to demonstrate one year of academic growth in language arts and math skills, the 50 microschool students showed 1 ½ years of growth in both language arts and math. The results were so strong that the young principal offered another 50 freshmen the opportunity to join the microschool the following year.

The 74 reported this week that Indiana’s Easter Hancock Schools, a public school system located in the Hoosier State, decided to offer a similar opportunity to their students. According to their superintendent,

“For far too long, education leaders, teachers and families have wasted precious energy arguing over the reasons behind their students’ struggles. Rather than collaborate on ways to dismantle the barriers that hold kids back, they are pulled into divisive debates that pit schools against one another – charter versus traditional, public versus private, old models versus new ones.”

“These ideological battles replace meaningful progress and distract from the work that matters most: building schools where kids feel they belong, are pushed to grow and are understood as individuals.”

“Unfortunately, the longer adults argue, the longer kids wait.”

The superintendent goes on to write,

“This fall, a microschool collaborative and the school district opened Nature’s Gift, Indiana’s first publicly funded rural microschool. Serving 60 students, Nature’s Gift offers an education at each child’s individual pace, without lowering expectations. Students learn through hands-on activities and real-world projects designed by Project Lead The Way, building skills step by step until they’re ready to move on, rather than advancing simply because the calendar says it’s time. In addition, educators work closely with families to set goals, track growth and create a tailored path for their child.”

“The district provides operational support to the microschool – taking on responsibilities such as payroll, compliance and infrastructure – so Nature’s Gift teachers can focus on relationships and learning. In return, the microschool collaborative serves as a testing ground for new ideas that Eastern Hancock can learn from, including more personalized, clearer goal-setting with students and ways to measure progress beyond seat time. Several of these practices are already shaping conversations and decisions across the district.”

“The flow of innovation moves in both directions because the focus is on outcomes, not ownership. The question isn’t, ‘Whose idea is it?’ The question is, ‘Does it help kids succeed?’”

“Families are recognizing that it does. Nearly 40% of Eastern Hancock students now enroll from outside the district under Indiana’s public school choice option, embracing either the expanded hands-on instruction and work-based programs offered by our traditional schools or the flexibility and individualized pacing of our microschool.”

Our traditional K-12 system continues to be lazy, expecting young learners to fit into an established curriculum, instructional day, and testing regimen that hasn’t changed for years.

Why can’t our high schools, and middle schools for that matter, be a host to multiple microschools, each with a different learning focus and environment? Why can’t young learners choose a learning organization from a menu, much like a cafeteria menu, that serves the academic and social and emotional needs of every young learner.

We have the ability and the technology to create learning organizations like Eastern Hancock and beyond.

Why aren’t we?

Til tomorrow. SVB