Black families turn to micro-schools and homeschooling for a “safe” education

While it took energy and time, it wasn’t more than she was already putting into “trying to make the system work.” The curriculum also allowed Blanchard to tailor lessons to Isaiah, focusing on subjects where he needed extra help and quickly filling in those where he didn’t. “And it ended up being a really positive experience overall, for him and for our family,” says Blanchard, who now works as an adjunct professor at East Carolina University.

Blanchard is not alone. During the pandemic, the number of struggling students has increased, boosting interest in alternatives to public school. Now, homeschools and microschools, two overlapping categories, are booming. About 5 to 6 percent of all K-12 students are homeschooled, according to the Centers for Childhood Education. Johns Hopkins University Home Education Centera collection of research and resources on homeschooling. Blanchard State, North Carolina, has the second-highest percentage of homeschooled students in the country—about 9 percent. According to the Homeschool Hub.

He Lack of supervision These alternatives mean that curricula and rigor vary widely and that students do not enjoy some of the protections of public school. But recent attention and federal dollars have also spurred Attempts to increase regulationsStill, there’s a tendency for people to gloss over some of the nuances when talking about the rise of homeschooling and microschools, Angela Watson, a research assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Education, told EdSurge in May. But in reality, there are a wide variety of reasons why parents are drawn to these types of schools. Even within a state, she added, the level of interest in nonpublic schools can vary, perhaps because of the options available.

For some Black families, she said, interest spiked because of the pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement. Some families, particularly those whose children need learning accommodations, also feel like those students are being marginalized, she said.

For some of these families, the need for this type of alternative school seems urgent.

Dismantling the “school to prison pipeline”

Black families are turning to microschools for “safety,” says Janelle Wood, founder of Black Mothers Forum, a network of nine microschools in Arizona, a state considered friendly to the “school choice” movement.

These families may be drawn to alternative education for reasons other than their own. conservative white familiesshe adds.

In 2016, Wood and other Black mothers were looking for a place to express their anger and sadness over police killings, including those of Michael Brown and Freddie Gray. So she called a meeting to talk about how to protect their children from systemic racism. “I’m a reverend,” Wood says, adding that she felt a religious calling to “be a voice for those who don’t have a voice.” Her platform, she explains, put her in a position to articulate the needs of her community.

But before long, the group had turned its attention to the “school-to-prison pipeline.” They had identified education as the beginning of a chain of events that fuels poor life outcomes. In education, black students are overdisciplined, “criminalizing” normal behavior from an early age, Wood says. Around the same time, Wood also noticed that classrooms seem to be overcrowded with too many students, so teachers can’t give adequate attention to those who are struggling, especially across racial divides — which she believes reinforces the problem.

The result? These families don't feel supported by schools, Wood says.

Four years ago, Black Mothers Forum opened a microschool. Wood argues that keeping schools small and rooted in the community allows for deeper relationships between teachers and students. It means that when students make a mistake or need correction because they’re misbehaving, Wood says, they know it’s coming from a place of support. “And so, milestones give them a space to grow, a space to be seen as human beings, as validated people,” she says.

Today, Black Mothers Forum microschools educate about 60 students spread across nine schools, with five to 10 students each. Less established schools have two adults supervising classes. More established schools are supervised by one adult, often a former teacher or a parent with an advanced education-related degree, and students and parents play an active role in creating the school culture, according to Wood. Nearly all students and teachers are Black.

In part, Wood sees the schools as a response to the ongoing fallout from the pandemic. For her, microschools allow students to have a social life, in a less intimidating learning environment than large schools, in the hopes of speeding their recovery from the negative effects of school closures. “Some kids need a smaller environment, and microschools seem to be doing the job for many of them,” Wood says.

Initially, many parents were interested in microschools as a way to strengthen their students’ ability to return to public school, she says. But there is growing interest in staying in microschools. Recently, the net has been widened to include high school options.

A potential lifesaver

For Blanchard, the homeschooling experiment paid off. Her son's academic performance improved.

But when Blanchard’s job became less flexible (plus her concerns about what limited interactions with other students might mean for Isaiah’s social development), she felt it was time to change again. Local homeschooling groups weren’t very diverse, she says. They tried a private school, but found Isaiah struggled there. He felt alienated, she says, because he was being singled out for punishment. So now, Isaiah is back in public school for ninth grade.

Though they never found the perfect situation for Isaiah, Blanchard says, the homeschooling trial served as a “reset year.” She and most of the other families she knows who homeschool their children are reacting to an ecosystem they don’t feel is nurturing or supporting their children, she says. Her home turned out to be a more affirming environment, and that allowed her family to help Isaiah prepare to reenter public school.

Other advocates of educational alternatives believe that microschools are an opportunity to help public schools, either by testing new learning methods (which could then be reintroduced into public schools if they work) or, in some cases, by providing community assistance.

For Wood of the Black Mothers Forum, microschools could be a way to relieve pressure on public schools. Public schools should incorporate microschools into their campuses, Wood argues. That way, they don't lose students and can provide assistance to overworked teachers, she says. It's a way to bring the community closer to the schools, Wood adds.

“Let someone who really understands[students who are struggling]and looks like them work with them, and see the difference in these kids. They’re not just missing kids now, they’re getting helped,” Wood says.

He says he has been looking for a public school to partner with his own organization, but has not found one so far.