{"id":59358,"date":"2021-09-15T16:21:57","date_gmt":"2021-09-15T20:21:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/world.edu\/?p=59358"},"modified":"2021-09-15T16:21:57","modified_gmt":"2021-09-15T20:21:57","slug":"what-are-microschools-5-questions-answered","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/what-are-microschools-5-questions-answered\/","title":{"rendered":"What are microschools? 5 questions answered"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"
\nSince COVID-19, some parents in search of educational alternatives for their children have\u00a0turned to microschools<\/a>. Here, Barnett Berry, a research professor in education at the University of South Carolina, explains what makes microschools distinct from other schools.<\/em><\/p>\n

1. What are microschools?<\/strong><\/h4>\n

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\u00a0project-based learning<\/a>. They also tend to have closer adult-child relationships in which teachers serve as facilitators of student-led learning, not just deliverers of content.<\/p>\n

Michael Horn, a fellow and co-founder at Clayton Christensen Institute for Disruptive Innovation,\u00a0aptly noted<\/a>: \u201cThink one-room schoolhouse meets blended learning and home schooling meets private schooling.\u201d<\/p>\n

Microschools can be found inside public schools, such as in\u00a0North Phillips School of Innovation<\/a>\u00a0in Edgecombe County, North Carolina. But they can also be found in the private sector as well, such as the\u00a0MYSA Micro School<\/a>\u00a0in Washington. They can operate almost anywhere \u2013 from living rooms and storefronts to churches, libraries and offices.<\/p>\n

Horn reported that\u00a0QuantumCamp<\/a>, founded in 2009, was a microschool established \u201cout of a dare that one couldn\u2019t teach quantum physics in a simple way.\u201d\u00a0Acton Academy<\/a>\u00a0operates more than 180 microschools in the United States and abroad.<\/p>\n

Microschools are often associated with ed-tech and efforts to privatize public education. For example,\u00a0SchoolHouse<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 a New York-based ed tech startup \u2013 reportedly\u00a0raised $8.1 million as of 2021<\/a>\u00a0to take its model nationwide.<\/p>\n

It is difficult to know just how many microschools there are throughout the U.S. State rules and regulations\u00a0differ considerably<\/a>, and there is no one national accreditation agency for microschools.<\/p>\n

2. How are they funded?<\/strong><\/h4>\n

The\u00a0cost of attending<\/a>\u00a0a privately operated microschool varies widely. It can range from\u00a0$4,000 to $25,000<\/a>\u00a0per academic year.<\/p>\n

These private microschools tend to serve families who can afford them \u2013 a\u00a02019 survey<\/a>\u00a0found that the majority of microschools serve few low-income students.<\/p>\n

Some models are funded through school voucher programs. In Florida, about 1 in 3 students at the\u00a0BB International School<\/a>\u00a0draw on the\u00a0state\u2019s private choice programs<\/a>\u00a0to finance their microschool education.<\/p>\n

Microschools can have much lower overhead than public schools, which can in turn reduce the typical per-pupil expenditure. But they also cannot provide the depth of extracurricular opportunities, such as sports, drama, band and more that\u00a0parents seek<\/a>\u00a0in a more holistic education experience for their children.<\/p>\n

3. Are they more effective than regular schools?<\/strong><\/h4>\n

There is very little, if any, substantive evidence on the effectiveness of microschools compared to regular public schools. However, most research shows\u00a0little difference<\/a>\u00a0in student outcomes between charter, private and public schools. This suggests there might be wide variation in the quality of microschools as well.<\/p>\n

4. Has the pandemic played a role in their popularity?<\/strong><\/h4>\n

In the wake of the pandemic, some parents \u2013 frustrated with their child\u2019s schools\u2019 response to online learning \u2013 have turned microschools and learning pods. For example, The New York Times\u00a0reported in 2020<\/a>\u00a0that the\u00a0Pandemic Pods Facebook page<\/a>\u00a0had more than 41,000 members, suggesting interest in the concept, although the number had shrunk to 38,000 as of September 2021. Yet it is worth noting that, historically, private schools have\u00a0served only about 10%<\/a>\u00a0of the nation\u2019s students.<\/p>\n

The pandemic appears to have played a role in the uptick of interest in microschools, but a\u00a02020 poll<\/a>\u00a0showed that 2 in 3 parents have given their local public school an A or B grade in response to the pandemic.<\/p>\n

5. Do microschools and public schools work together?<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Microschools do work inside the public school system and can be viewed as an extension of the\u00a0small schools movement<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In 2017, the North Phillips School of Innovation, mentioned earlier in this article, was\u00a0established to address poor academic performance, high student absenteeism and frequent discipline problems<\/a>. Students and parents wanted more personalized learning that connected to their life in the community. During the pandemic, the district used their experience with microschooling to create\u00a0learning pods<\/a>\u00a0and has been able to\u00a0more effectively<\/a>\u00a0personalize learning for students and their families.<\/p>\n

In addition, during pandemic-induced school closures, the\u00a0New Hampshire Department of Education<\/a>\u00a0developed their version of\u00a0learning pods<\/a>\u00a0to create small multi-age groupings of students \u2013 anywhere from five to 10 students \u2013 to help up to 500 students who had been struggling with academic and social and emotional setbacks.<\/p>\n

Finally, the microschool concept aligns with\u00a0Teacher Powered Schools<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 intentionally small schools inside of the public education system \u2013 where teachers have more autonomy to lead as well as teach.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the pandemic can spur new public-private partnerships that lead to more equitable and personalized learning in which microschools play an important role.<\/p>\n

Author Bio<\/strong>:Barnett Berry is a Reseach Professor of Education and founding director, ALL4SC at the University of South Carolina<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Since COVID-19, some parents in search of educational alternatives for their children have\u00a0turned to microschools. Here, Barnett Berry, a research professor in education at the University of South Carolina, explains what makes microschools distinct from other schools. 1. What are microschools? As their name suggests, microschools, which serve K-12 students, are very small schools that […]\n… learn more→<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15645],"tags":[421992],"coauthors":[11733],"class_list":["post-59358","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-education","tag-microschools"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhat are microschools? 5 questions answered - World leading higher education information and services<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/what-are-microschools-5-questions-answered\/\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What are microschools? 5 questions answered - World leading higher education information and services\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Since COVID-19, some parents in search of educational alternatives for their children have\u00a0turned to microschools. 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