Helping parents take control of their children’s K-12 education
Parent empowerment and what it means for traditional schools.
It is not news that wealthy parents have always had school choice. They can choose to live in expensive towns with high taxes, pay for tutors if their children struggle in school, afford elite private school tuition, hire college coaches to help improve chances for acceptance, and move to “higher-achieving” school districts if their current district doesn’t work for them.
If this isn’t news, then what is happening now, and why is school choice—or “education choice,” as we refer to it here—the most important movement in the country?
For education policy experts and others who have been advocating school choice for decades, this is not a “new” movement. But the pandemic allowed parents unprecedented (virtual) access to classrooms and schools. They were not happy with what they saw, for various reasons.
Parents are voting with their feet: since the pandemic, much has been written about the rate at which they are leaving public schools. Homeschooling is moving from fringe to mainstream. The microschooling movement is growing across the country. It is a trend that does not appear to be reversing any time soon: parents are increasingly empowered to make education choices.
Educators are also frustrated and are leaving the profession, or considering doing so, again for a variety of reasons. (More about this in a future post, including how the barriers in traditional schools often prevent teachers from feeling successful and how the growth of innovative schools and learning models presents tremendous opportunity for them).
Pioneers of school choice and innovations such as charter schools, online schools, models like Acton Academy and Sudbury Valley School have had a vision for alternative schooling since before the pandemic. Now, parents are increasingly looking for options. At the same time, states are enacting policies that support education choice.
When parents open up about their frustrations
If you are the parent of a school-aged child, you may have your own story. Here is how one parent described her son’s experience:
“My son hates school. Getting him to go to class each day was a challenge. When he was in elementary and middle school, the support system that was built around him went above and beyond and truly helped him each and every day. Then, he went to high school. His high school had a sink-or-swim mentality and the lack of support and student-centered environment was evident each and every day. I was constantly fighting for my child. Teachers never reached out, support was only given after school, no differentiation was used in class, and the students were expected to sit passively and listen. Semester after semester I watched my child shrink more into himself and resist going to school. In his sophomore year, he missed 23 days of school and nobody reached out. I had to ask for a plan that I then had to create. This past summer he announced to me he was not going back.”
This story is a variation on many I have heard. While every parent has a unique journey, I often hear feelings of confusion, isolation, and powerlessness when they describe experiences with kids and school.
A few themes come up when parents talk about what isn’t working. From the school side perspective, I experienced many of these challenges in my 20+ years as a teacher and high school principal.
❧Size and lack of flexibility: In a large school, students can feel lost and unknown. The one-size-fits-all rules, policies, assessments, school year calendar, school day schedule, homework expectations, and credit requirements simply aren’t the right fit for the way all students learn.
❧Winners and losers: I’ve heard parents describe school as “sorting kids into groups of winners and losers.” In a traditional school setting, the time to learn is fixed, while actual learning and competency vary. If the class moves ahead while some students haven’t learned what they needed to learn yet, this compounds over time. It becomes more and more difficult for students to catch up. The stress and anxiety students feel associated with school has increased dramatically.
❧Values and culture: Every school has a culture by default based on what is taught or not taught, the policies the school enacts, and how teachers and students relate to each other. We saw during and post-pandemic that when it came to certain topics, parents wondered, why are schools teaching these things? Isn’t this a parent’s role? Some parents would like to have more awareness about what is being taught.
❧Social and behavior challenges: One parent told me, “My child doesn’t want to be forced to sit on a rug right next to other children and do a circle activity every day.” For some students, school can feel like a series of forced social interactions with very little time for organic, play-based discovery and connection. Parents share stories of their children being bullied or feeling like they don’t have friends. Children are identified with behavior issues when they don’t fit into the structure. We accept that some children need to take medication to be able to function in school instead of asking, is the structure of school making it hard for students to self-regulate?
❧Approaches to learning: What if you’ve stretched financially to live in an affluent community with the assumption your child would receive a great education, only to find out that your child hates school, can’t keep up academically, and doesn’t want to go? We normalize that parents sometimes have to pay for tutoring outside of school, if they can even afford to do so.
Innovative models bring options and hope
In the last few years, my thinking about learning and schooling has shifted. Where I previously believed that “teachers know better than parents” about what should be taught in schools, I now believe that partnering with parents brings better outcomes for students. True partnering—as in parents feeling empowered to be part of their child’s education plan if they choose to do so. Traditional public schools work for many families. What I advocate is that parents have choices.
I’ll share what I have learned about alternative schooling models and how they differ from traditional public schools. Alternative models include microschools, learning pods, self-directed learning centers, online schools, religious schools, charter schools, public-private partnerships, homeschooling, and unschooling. Not all of these options share the same characteristics, but here is a starting point:
❧Personalized: You have the ability to match your child’s needs, interests, and passions with an alternative schooling model. Some children learn best in different settings. When parents have choices, this kind of personalized learning is possible.
❧Competency-based learning: Students in these models often learn at their own pace. They master concepts before moving on. If they need more time, they take it. If they are ready to accelerate, they can. There are no winners/losers in a competency-based model.
❧Flexible: Days, times, and the overall calendar are flexible in many of these models.
❧Role of teacher shifts to guide: Many microschools, learning pods, etc. refer to teachers as “guides” or coaches. This is intentional and changes the power dynamic. Students take responsibility for their learning, and guides are there to support them.
❧Cost: Many of these options are either less expensive than private schools or are tuition-free. Microschools have fewer students by design, often with multi-age groups of students learning together. They typically use smaller physical spaces (or even outdoor spaces, libraries, community centers, or are completely online), employ fewer staff members, and are generally less expensive to operate.
❧Neurodiverse learners can thrive: These models serve a variety of learners’ needs, including students with ADHD, autism, and dyslexia.
❧Parents are partners: This could include choosing or helping to choose curriculum. In the case of microschools, the smaller learning community enables parents to feel more connected. Parents are welcome partners in their child’s education.
Parents need help finding alternative schooling locations (in person or virtual), how to pay for them, and what resources are available to help with the process. Some ask how their children will be able to socialize if they choose to homeschool. They wonder if college is possible after pursuing an alternative schooling path. Introducing parents to these options is an important first step.
Remember the parent we met earlier, whose son struggled in school and refused to go back? After looking at options, her family chose dual enrollment with online classes. Here is the rest of her story:
I had no idea what other resources and avenues were open to us. Having someone listen and guide me was a gift….My son is now dual enrolled in our community college working towards not only his high school diploma but his associate's degree in business. I did not even know these options were available. Today, my son is flourishing and getting straight As.
There is hope for parents and students when they have options.
❧Sal Kahn, founder of Khan Academy, writes about the importance of mastery-based learning in The One World Schoolhouse. Khan’s book helped me understand aspects of the education choice movement and why children are having success in these innovative models. It is a good place to start if you are new to education choice.
