What is a Micro school?

Microschools are multi-family learning environments that are designed and operated around the educational needs and different learning styles of the particular students they serve.  It is reported that they serve upwards of 1.5 million students; this is about 1% of all U.S. students, and because of the rising popularity of this educational format, that number is expected to rise to 10% of all U.S. students within a decade.  At this time, one in five microschools is accredited. Two pieces of information about microschools are that approximately 40% of microschools are led by people of color, and that more than 50% of microschool students attend their microschool on a full time basis

Given that microschools are designed around the children, it's no surprise that the structures tend to be flexible meaning that teaching and learning models (e.g., Montessori, Waldorf, etc.), organizational structures, and missions vary widely (e.g., cultural, gender affirming, religious); this said, a trademark of microschools is small class size, which allows for hyper-focused and tailored instruction. Microschools can be organized as centers serving learners following rules for homeschoolers; private schools (accredited or non-accredited), and include public charters. While the majority of microschools are for younger children, some, such as Fusion (see below) accommodate older children. According to the National Microschooling Center, the three prevalent types of microschools today are: Independent, Partnership, and Provider Network Microschools.

Some microschools in the DMV area include: Oneness Family School (based on a Montessori method), Fusion (sixth grade and up), and MindBloom (for children 2-12, with a focus on language immersion).  And, microschools are often affordable. In fact, over 80% of microschool families have average or below average incomes.  The majority of microschools have tuition and fees at $10,000 or less and while about 60% of microschool funding is from tuition payments, about 30% comes from public funding.  There are downsides to microschools. When considering a microschool, it is important to ask whether the extracurriculars and facilities are suited to your child's development, and to double check the microschool's oversight (what organization oversees the microschool), and its accreditation.  Returning to the matter of extracurriculars and facilities, the parent might choose to find outside and complementary activities and facilities to round out the child's education.

Most of the statistics of this blog come from the National Microschool Center

https://microschoolingcenter.org/

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