Coronavirus / COVID-19

Micro-schools, rigorous distance learning never gonna give your innovative spirit up

Matthew Ladner August 10, 2020

Matthew Ladner

Science writer Matthew Ridley has described the innovation process as one of trial and error in which individuals combine pre-existing techniques and/or technologies.

One example: Horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing were around for many years before innovators figured out how to put them together to revolutionize the energy market.

Another example: Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up” and Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” were around for decades before some unknown innovator combined them to create the greatest song in the English language.

Likewise, a new policy brief posted to the Arizona Charter Schools Association website suggests that combining project-based micro-schools with rigorous live distance learning can create a new path, to scale, for high-demand schools and can unleash new opportunities for teachers while addressing equity concerns with pandemic pods.

A Phoenix radio host interviewed a 44-year (!) classroom veteran teacher last year. The teacher observed that the main problem with education today isn’t a lack of funding, which he said has “always been tough.” The real problem, he said, is that “the joy of teaching has been strangled out of the profession.”

This can and must change, and combining small education communities with rigorous distance learning just might do the trick.

If you’ve ever visited a project-based learning micro-school, you quickly see the joy so sorely lacking in most education settings. With Sal Khan, founder of a free educational video library that allows blending learning, as your scout-troop/school leader, you’re watching an excited group of kids engaging in 3-D print design. An education guide leads students through some daily academic work on computers, but then the students tackle group projects.

I watched students engaged in 3-D print design at a Prenda micro-school on the Apache Nation in San Carlos Arizona. These kids were not just learning, they were learning and loving it. These types of schools have great potential because they do not require educators to raise funds for multi-million facilities.

This style of education, which took an early hold prior to the pandemic, has been thrust into the limelight now through the advent of pandemic pods. Educators can address equity concerns, such as a low-income family’s ability to pay teachers and gain access to computers, with enlightened public policy.

Success Academy of New York developed another innovation to pair with micro-schools. Success Academy changed the roles of instructional staff for distance learning, with teachers variously tackling the roles of lecturers and small group facilitator/student problem solvers.

The most skilled math instructor in the network gave a live internet broadcast lecture via the internet. Students divided into small groups to interact with teachers to discuss the material and work out issues. Teachers then graded and monitored student achievement and scheduled individual online tutoring sessions with struggling students.

The Success Academy distance learning model is itself potentially revolutionary. In theory, the network could offer this version of itself to both enrollment lottery winners and enrollment lottery losers. Many parents on the waitlist might very much prefer this option over a spot in a district that numbers rather than names schools.

Education, however, is very much a social enterprise for many, as most of us want and need access to instructors and classmates. We need community. The Arizona Center for Student Opportunity brief referenced above calls for educators to combine Prenda-style micro-schools with Success Academy-style distance learning programs.

This proposal could take a variety of forms. Education service providers could reach agreements with pandemic pod providers to “adopt” them into their distance learning programs. Alternatively, high-demand schools could gauge interest in creating pods among their current students and their waitlisted families.

Equity-related concerns connected to pandemic pods could be addressed through funding students. Private choice programs focusing on disadvantaged student populations, such as Florida’s scholarship programs, could be used to help low-income students and those with disabilities afford micro-schools. Alternatively, public school distance-learning statues could defer costs.

In Arizona, Prenda operates schools through district, charter and private choice mechanisms. All Prenda students take the state’s AZMerit exam, and students whose education is funded through district and charter mechanisms have their results factored into school ratings.

In partnering with a Success Academy-style distance learning provider, the “mothership” would provide the live lecture, while the small group facilitation function would be conducted by in-person by guides. Different flavors of micro-schools can be created through affiliation with different mothership institutions. Teachers can run the show rather than being part of all-too-often hugely indifferent bureaucracies. All we need are some trailblazing educators and enlightened policy.

To paraphrase the Gen-X bard:

“With the schools out, it’s less dangerous! Here we are now, liberate us! Don’t feel stupid or contagious! Here we are now, educate us!”

August 10, 2020 0 comment

Commentary and Opinion Coronavirus / COVID-19 Customization Education Choice Education Equity Featured Parent Voices Parental Choice School Choice Special Needs Education

Education choice for all families is crucial as schools consider reopening plans

Keith Jacobs August 7, 2020

Keith Jacobs

Education choice advocate Keith Jacobs and his son, Deuce, 13.

As a parent of a child with Autism Spectrum Disorder, I know that the decision about re-opening public schools during the COVID-19 pandemic could have a tremendous impact on the social-emotional health of my son, Deuce, 13, who thrives on structure.

The switch to online learning in the spring was particularly challenging. Even though my wife and I are educators, that still was not enough to supplant the intense interventions he received with face-to-face instruction in his public school building.

He became frustrated trying to navigate through the online platform while also completing quizzes and virtual labs all while being separated from the social connection and in-person support of his teachers.

Deuce independently completed assignments at his own pace. However, remote learning presented unique obstacles because he relies on over a dozen specific accommodations delivered through his Individualized Education Plan (IEP), most of which were either non-existent or difficult to replicate on the online platform.

Like many parents, the home became our workspace, in addition to being a school, restaurant, and gym. This forced us to balance the demands of our daily work while trying to maintain an instructional environment for our children. What worked for our youngest son, Christopher, 10, didn’t always work for Deuce.

The challenge for Deuce became monumental. I was forced to contact the teachers and administration on several occasions pleading for alternative assessments and assignments. I reiterated how difficult it was to comply with the demands of work while providing accommodations for my child outlined in his IEP.

I had to work with his Exceptional Student Education (ESE) case manager and speech therapist on providing additional technology assistance and modified lessons during their virtual sessions.

It was clear our situation would become even more daunting when we discovered that his accommodation “Text to Speech” was not present on the district’s online platform. Receiving this accommodation in the school building allowed him to have directions, questions, and answers read to him so that he could process the information more effectively.

Without the presence of this function, I was constantly asked to fulfill this role so that he could complete his assignment often after multiple attempts of completion on his own and visible frustration prior to asking for the accommodation.

I witnessed the despair in his eyes as he struggled with knowing he can do the work but receiving below-average assessments. His zeal and commitment toward learning, which were rewarded with a 3.75 grade point average, had been replaced by confusion and apathy.

Deuce suddenly found himself struggling to complete assignments, while I tried to prevent him from becoming fixated on these assignments for hours.

As often happens with children with autism, over-sensitivity to sensory stimuli made it even harder to concentrate in the home. Doors opening, phones ringing, conference calls and other distractions were a cacophonous barrier to learning.

As districts wrestle with when, or even if, to re-open public schools, they must consider all their stakeholders, including students who depend on in-person learning. Are we properly balancing health concerns with students’ social-emotional health from learning in an online platform?

These examples demonstrate why choice in education is so pertinent to families. In the last quarter of the previous school year, every child was forced to switch to distance learning with no consideration that some students just will not be successful in the model.

Even with households like mine, one child can thrive through distance learning while the other could potentially suffer in silence.

The school district’s decision in March was built out of necessity. With schools reopening in just a few weeks, these decisions need to be made with the understanding that there is no one solution to educate all students.

Parents need options.

August 7, 2020 4 comments

Commentary and Opinion Common Ground Coronavirus / COVID-19 Education and Public Policy Education Choice Education Equity Education Savings Accounts Featured School Choice

The evolving public education market

Doug Tuthill August 6, 2020

Doug Tuthill

An education savings account ensures that Anna Ragusa of North Carolina can continue to receive needed therapies during social distancing.

Public education has historically been a poorly managed, underperforming market. The pandemic is driving changes that could, over time, lead to market improvements that will benefit families, students, educators and the public.

In effective and efficient markets, consumers control their purchasing power, monopolies do not exist, the barriers to entry and exit are appropriate (i.e., not too high or too low), information needed to make good decisions is available to suppliers and customers, and the public good is well served.

None of these features exist in public education today. About 90 percent of public education services are controlled by a single supplier – government. This market domination constitutes a monopoly. Almost all purchasing power is controlled by government.

When families have no control over their public education dollars, new suppliers are discouraged from entering the market. That’s because most families cannot afford to pay both school district taxes and the cost of education services from non-government suppliers. This barrier to entry is why there has been so little supplier diversity and innovation in K-12 education over the last 170 years. Giving families control over their education dollars would unleash demand and create a market that would attract more suppliers.

While the availability of information in public education has gotten better over the last 25 years, families and schools still lack the quality and quantity of information they need to make good decisions. These market flaws are causing taxpayers to get a poor return on their investments in public education.

Some of these market deficiencies are starting to be addressed as families respond to the pandemic by asserting more control over their children’s education. Affluent families are using their own funds to create and access alternative schooling models, including micro-schools, homeschooling cooperatives and pandemic pods. And a few governors are using federal stimulus dollars to fund scholarships so low-income families may have these same opportunities.

If this trend continues and more families gain greater control over their public education dollars, the barriers to entry for new, more diverse suppliers will be lowered and the creativity and innovation we are starting to see will increase. Using Education Scholarship Accounts (ESAs) to give families more flexibility over how they spend their public education funds will also open the market to providers such as tutors, counselors and therapists.

In healthy markets, more desirable supply attracts more consumers, which then attracts even more desirable supply, which then attracts even more consumers. This type of virtuous market cycle is emerging in a few communities and could start to erode the government’s monopoly on supply and further the development of a healthy public education market.

The unbundling of education services will also accelerate the improvement of a better public education market. Government has historically used its monopoly to force parents to access all their education services from a single provider (e.g., the neighborhood public school). While the unbundling of these services has been occurring slowly over the last three decades as families increasingly use programs such as virtual schools and dual enrollment, the pandemic is encouraging suppliers to accelerate this unbundling.

Some private schools are offering childcare services for families who want to access a virtual instructional program but need out-of-home childcare. Some school districts are providing breakfast and lunch programs for low-income families who are homeschooling. And some community organizations are providing extracurricular activities, such as theatre and sports programs, that are no longer available at some neighborhood schools.

We have almost two centuries of data showing that a dysfunctional public education market is not capable of delivering systemwide excellence and equity. The work required to develop the infrastructure necessary to support an effective and efficient public education market is daunting. But this horrific pandemic has provided us an historic opportunity we should not let pass.

August 6, 2020 0 comment

Commentary and Opinion Coronavirus / COVID-19 Customization Education Choice Education Equity Featured Podcast Public School Choice School Choice Technology and Innovation Virtual Education

podcastED: SUFS president Doug Tuthill interviews Pasco County Principal of the Year

redefinED staff August 5, 2020

redefinED staff

On this episode, Tuthill speaks with JoAnne Glenn, one of the nation’s top online learning leaders. In addition to being Pasco’s 2020 Principal of the Year, Glenn earned one of three Digital Principal of the Year awards from the National Association of Secondary School Principals. She is one of the founders of Pasco eSchool, which offers full- and part-time K-12 digital instruction. Over the past 12 years, the school’s mastery-based model has become a model for digital learning.

Tuthill and Glenn discuss Pasco eSchool’s advantage during the COVID-19 pandemic and how the platform will allow for flexibility of blended learning when school resumes in a few weeks. They also discuss issues of inequity and the “digital divide,” noting there are areas of Pasco County still lacking access to high speed internet.

“When families are looking outside the school district for their core instruction, it does not mean we don’t have things they may like, we just have to figure out ways to make that available.”

EPISODE DETAILS:

What the Pasco County School District is likely to look like in five years

Lessons learned in the spring and Pasco’s reopening models

Pasco’s “franchise” relationship with Florida Virtual School – using its content and platform with district teachers

How Pasco can unbundle its services and offer flexibility to families within the district and beyond

LINKS MENTIONED:

Pasco eSchool leader named top national ‘digital principal’

Pasco eSchool leader named county Principal of the Year

August 5, 2020 0 comment

Charter Schools Coronavirus / COVID-19 Customization Education Choice Featured News Parental Choice Public School Choice School Choice Technology and Innovation

New Pasco County charter school: ‘We have a plan and teachers who are ready to go to work’

Scott Kent August 4, 2020

Scott Kent

Enrollment at brand-new InPrep Charter School has reached 400, with space still available for families who want the flexibility of both in-person and online learning.

The COVID-19 pandemic has tossed K-12 education into a sea of uncertainty, forcing parents navigating waves of anxiety to search for a safe harbor for their children.

Innovation Preparatory Academy, a new K-8 public charter school in Wesley Chapel, is positioning itself as a beacon of stability.

Like many states, Florida has been roiled by conflicting policy demands amidst coronavirus apprehension. On July 6, the state Department of Education issued an emergency order requiring all public school districts to reopen brick-and-mortar schools five days a week to provide an option for families. That prompted a lawsuit from the Florida Education Association, the state’s largest teachers union, which argues the DOE’s directive is unconstitutional and puts students, teachers and their families at risk of contracting COVID-19. The lawsuit is seeking all instruction to be held online until in-person has been deemed safe.

Parental frustration is boiling over. InPrep principal Sara Capwell said a mother called her in tears recently, saying, “I just don’t know what to do anymore.”

InPrep, part of the Charter Schools USA network, was scheduled to begin its first year Aug. 10, along with other Pasco County district schools. Citing concerns about rising cases of COVID-19, the school board pushed back the start date to Aug. 24.

Capwell says she and her staff would have been ready to go on the earlier date, but admits the two-week delay will give them additional time to distribute iPads to students, put the finishing touches on mobile technology in classrooms and persuade parents still trying to decide which education option is best for their children to consider InPrep.

“A lot of parents are worried about going to a school, then having the school shut down and being thrown to the wolves again because that’s what they experienced in the spring,” Capwell said. “We are an alternative. We have a plan and teachers who are ready to go to work. That’s what parents want to hear.”

Capwell says InPrep is trying to develop, as much as possible, a sense of normalcy. That means maintaining in-person classroom learning for those who want it while also providing an online “mobile classroom” that incorporates brick-and-mortar lessons.

Innovative mobile platforms will bring the classroom to students who choose to learn from home.

This isn’t a teacher sitting in front of a computer screen of Zoom squares, checking to see if worksheets have been completed, Capwell says. Online students will learn the same curriculum, at the same time, as students in the actual classroom. In fact, 360-degree cameras and microphones put the online students in the classroom and follow the teacher around during a lesson, even when classes break up into smaller groups, making for an interactive experience. That includes online students interacting with their in-person classmates.

“We’re trying to make it as real as we can so they can feel like they’re there,” Capwell said.

Improving the quality of distance learning is just one goal. Making in-person and online learning as seamless as possible is another.

InPrep wants to make sure students don’t miss a beat if their parents initially choose the online option as a temporary solution and then pivot to brick-and-mortar later. The school also will provide the flexibility for students to move back and forth between in-person and online if that becomes necessary.

“When they do come back, they’ve probably already made friends, because even though we’re a new school, they’ve built relationships in class and with teachers,” Capwell said. “We’re trying to give them a mirror of actually being there. When they come back, they can just jump in.”

The number of students choosing in-person learning versus those doing the “mobile classroom” keep shifting, a testament to how volatile the pandemic is. Initially, about 90% of InPrep’s inaugural families chose in-person, but after the COVID infections began soaring, that figure dropped to as low as 52%. The figure has since rebounded to around 65%, while the school continues to survey all its parents to make sure they still are where they want to be in terms of in-person or online.

Regardless of the exact figures, it’s clear that a significant number of parents want in-person learning for their children, while others prefer the options online can provide, at least in the short term.

As for those families who still are undecided about what to do, Capwell is getting the word out that InPrep is open, has teachers who are ready to teach, and has processes in place to facilitate learning while protecting everyone’s health. She said she already has seen an uptick in enrollments in recent weeks, an additional 25 to 35 students each week.

InPrep also has begun hosting Facebook Live presentations to show off the new school and to have staff members role-play safety procedures to reassure parents.

“Parents can actually see that and go, ‘Oh, so it’s not like everyone’s going to show up and be afraid to interact.’ We’re going to interact, and do so safely,” Capwell said. “Once they see the actual visuals in our building, I think that the interest will be exponential.”

Although chartered as a K-8 school, InPrep will be K-6 its first year, building a middle-school culture in the upper grades before adding seventh grade in 2021-22 and eighth grade the year after that. The school currently has more than 400 students enrolled toward this year’s target of 615, so space is available. Even if it reaches its maximum capacity, Capwell said, InPrep will be able to practice social distancing between students in every classroom. And while students and faculty will be required to wear masks, they will be allowed to take five-minute “mask breaks” each hour – while remaining socially distant – to give everyone a literal breather so they can stay focused on learning.

This may be what passes for normalcy in the turmoil of a pandemic. But for many parents craving constancy, they’ll take however much they can get.

August 4, 2020 0 comment

Blog Guest Catholic Schools Coronavirus / COVID-19 Education and Public Policy Education Choice Featured Jonathan Butcher News Private Schools School Choice

Private schools and the back-to-school calculation

Jonathan Butcher July 31, 2020

Jonathan Butcher

Catholic high school enrollment in Columbus, Ohio, has increased 4% this summer as schools plan to open either fully or with in-person operations.

If summer 2020 was the season parents, students, and educators considered the cost of the pandemic, fall will be the time families seek value.

Even in April, just weeks after most school buildings in the U.S. closed and instruction moved online — with uneven results — more than two-thirds of parents in a Pew Research survey were “very” or “somewhat” concerned that their child was falling behind. This was a sign parents already were counting the cost of the interrupted school year. More recent surveys confirm parents remain concerned.

So, with some of the nation’s largest school districts, including Houston, Atlanta, Broward County, and Baltimore County to name a few offering online only instruction this fall, parents dissatisfied with their child’s experience are looking for alternatives. As with any learning option, choosing a virtual school is different from being forced to attend one.

The latest education response to the pandemic involves parents forming “learning pods” with their neighbors and hiring educators to instruct students in small numbers, but private schools may still find a place.

“We want to make sure we are providing value and what our parents are coming to us for,” says Michelle Brown, Chief Development Officer for Independence Mission Schools, a group of 15 Catholic schools in Philadelphia.

As explained on redefinED and by the Cato Institute, the pandemic threatened private schools in Florida and around the country. Approximately 100 independent schools already have closed nationwide according to Cato. Yet as the first day of the new school year approaches, and students across the U.S. are assigned to districts with only a virtual option, private schools may still survive.

In Columbus, Ohio, Catholic high school enrollment increased 4% this summer as the private schools plan to open either fully in-person or with hybrid in-person operations. Some Catholic schools in the area have waiting lists, while local news says there are 20% more incoming kindergarteners for Catholic schools in the coming school year “than there were eighth-grade graduates from middle schools last year.”

North Carolina school officials say there has been “an uptick in applications, calls, and emails” about the state’s Opportunity Scholarship program, a K-12 private school scholarship option, while waiting lists are growing for some private schools, especially in the younger grades.

Earlier this week, the Washington Post said parents are leaving public schools in Washington, D.C., for private schools because they expect that “private schools will eventually be able to switch to in-person learning quicker than public schools.” The commitment to in-person classes has “fueled an uptick in enrollment inquiries from families who can afford to make the switch.”

The governors of South Carolina, Oklahoma and New Hampshire have created new K-12 private school scholarship options using federal spending that Washington allocated to their offices.

In Philadelphia, Brown and Independence staff have reviewed guidance from a wide range of health institutions and says Independence plans to open with a hybrid model. Her schools are surveying families now, though, to determine if parents are ready for more in-person instruction, especially for preschool and kindergarten students. She explains that some Independence students take public transportation or district buses to school, and with Philadelphia schools also using a hybrid model, student transportation will be limited.

“That will be a part of the survey,” Brown says, “how do they get their kids to school and what is the alternative.” It would not make sense to open fully in-person if not all students could attend right away, she explains.

Thus, serving families and students is the priority, which should not go unnoticed by parents during the COVID summer. Brown recognizes that “many of our students have siblings and that our families have the option to leave our school and go to a district school,” driving Independence to “provide consistency for families.”

Whether these stories are just isolated examples from Philadelphia, Ohio, Washington, D.C., and beyond, or indications of a private school resurgence remain to be seen. Should private school waiting lists grow, however, it will be difficult to argue that independent schools have a message that works: Add value.

July 31, 2020 1 comment

Coronavirus / COVID-19 Education and Public Policy Education Choice Education Legislation Featured Homeschooling News Parental Choice Public School Choice School Choice

Colorado lawmakers call for special session to address education choice options

redefinED staff July 30, 2020

redefinED staff

Amid nationwide uncertainty about how district schools can safety reopen this fall, Republican lawmakers in Colorado are urging Gov. Jared Polis to call a special legislative session to address education concerns.

At top of their minds: a policy proposal they want to introduce called “Safe Learning Choices,” which would provide families with financial resources so they can stay at home and teach their children, buy devices to help with online learning, or cover costs associated with creating small homeschool groups or “pandemic pods,” including paying for teachers.

The plan would allow families to draw on all or a portion of their child’s per-pupil revenue to access educational resources to leverage options other than brick-and-mortar instruction. The support would be available to families whose children cannot attend public school full-time due to health concerns or because their local schools have decided not to operate.

“Colorado’s parents are concerned both for their children’s health and their education,” wrote state Sen. Bob Gardner, a Colorado Springs Republican who is leading the effort. “If we act quickly, we can provide parents with the resources to educate their children in home or in small groups arranged by them to ensure that their children don’t fall behind.”

All but two members of the Republican delegation signed the letter dated July 28.

Like school districts across the country, many Colorado districts have been planning for a full return to in-person learning while others are exploring hybrid models. The lawmakers assert that provisions under the Safe Learning Choices plan will ensure that children don’t lose ground regardless of how district plans unfold.

“Parents need concrete, actionable and flexible options for the 2020-2021 school year,” the lawmakers wrote. “Kids get one chance to receive a quality education, so we urge you to take immediate action to prevent lifetime damage to Colorado’s children.”

July 30, 2020 0 comment

Coronavirus / COVID-19 Education Choice Featured Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Gardiner Scholarship Microschools News Parental Choice Private Schools School Choice

Parents consider private schools as district reopening plans continue to churn

Lisa Buie July 30, 2020

Lisa Buie

Among Florida private schools with open seats for families looking for brick-and-mortar education is Compass Outreach and Education Center in Fort Lauderdale, which will offer a full-time, in-person micro-school.

The text on the website banner of Children’s Educational Services, a North Florida non-profit company that operates private schools, broadcasts this message to families:

“You should have peace about where your child goes to school. Your child’s future is too important to remain uncertain about their education.”

As school districts continue to push back reopening dates amid uncertainty about when and how they will reopen (here, here and here) and a state order to reopen brick-and-mortar schools is facing a court challenge, some parents are feeling anything but peaceful as they search for options.

Many families want – or in the case of working families need – in-person instruction, with the expectation that schools will ensure their children’s safety. In Palm Beach County, where the number of COVID-19 cases continues to climb, 54 percent of parents expressed support for in-person instruction in a district survey. About two-thirds of Marion County parents recently said they planned for their children to return to the classroom.

While some families are joining together to form pandemic pods, pooling their resources to hire a teacher for in-person instruction at home, this can be a costly option that’s out of reach for families with more modest incomes. Many of those families, though, are turning their attention to a new idea: transferring their children to a private school, in some cases with assistance from a state scholarship.

It’s the proverbial “win-win.” Private school numbers have dipped since COVID-19, creating more space. Families want their children in a “real” classroom with adequate social distancing.

San Jose Catholic School in Jacksonville, which serves students from 3-year-old pre-kindergarten through eighth grade, is eager to let families know space is available for their children – and that they accept scholarship students.

“We want to make sure that finances do not stop anyone from attending,” said principal Jenny Studer.

In addition to accepting students who are eligible for the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship and the Gardiner Scholarship, two programs administered by Step Up For Students, which hosts this blog, San Jose offers its own financial aid programs. The school accepts students regardless of their religious beliefs. About 20 percent of those currently enrolled aren’t Catholic, Studer said, adding, “Our doors are open to all.”

San Jose’s student-teacher ratio of 17 to 1 makes it attractive to parents seeking a safe environment, Studer said. Classrooms are large enough that children can be seated with more-than-adequate social distancing. Other safety measures include temperature checks for staff and students, water bottle refill stations, limits on restroom occupancy and an isolation room for those who show virus symptoms until their parents can pick them up.

The school employs its own cleaning staff, and plans are in place to sanitize high-touch areas frequently throughout the day. The entire campus will be cleaned at the end of each school day.

Seats also are open at six K-12 schools operated by Children’s Educational Services. Campuses are in Jacksonville, Lakeland, Tampa, St. Petersburg, Zephyrhills and Bradenton.

“We have a fantastic program at all CES schools and want as many children to experience it as possible,” vice president Andy Uprichard said, adding that the school accepts all state scholarships. Like San Jose, the organization has its own financial aid programs for families who need assistance above what their scholarships will cover.

Uprichard said about 30 students from public schools have enrolled over the summer across the six campuses, and more parents are calling every day.

“They’ve heard how organized we are, how prepared we are and how we’re being direct about the situation at hand, and they feel like they can trust us,” he said.

Last spring, the schools averaged 12 to 15 students per class. This fall, with some families choosing the school’s optional online program, there will be more opportunities for social distancing, Uprichard said.

Other safety features he cited include staggered drop-off and dismissal times, extra handwashing and sanitizing stations, extra cleaning, temperature checks, face masks and air purifiers.

In South Florida, where most of the state’s coronavirus cases have been concentrated, parents are checking out Compass Outreach and Education Center in Fort Lauderdale. Founded in 2017, it offers a host of options for learning, including full-time in-person micro-school instruction, a homeschool hybrid and virtual education.

Everything takes place in a large one-room schoolhouse and across a half-acre of lush, green land that serves as an outdoor classroom. That area will be used for math and language arts classes as well as for outdoor activities. Indoors, children will be seated two to a table at opposite ends. Students will wear masks indoors as per the latest orders from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Staff will be required to wear masks all the time.

“We’ve been giving tours non-stop,” said Laurel Suarez, president and CEO of the micro-school, which emphasizes entrepreneurship, nature education and a student-centered approach to learning for students in kindergarten through sixth grade. “A lot of those coming from the public school are looking for viable alternatives, even if its three days a week so they can work.”

Like San Jose and the schools managed by Children’s Educational Services, Compass accepts students on state scholarships, as well as other forms of financial aid.

As of Wednesday afternoon, Suarez said, 15 spots were still available.

July 30, 2020 0 comment