(FEE) – I recently heard someone dismiss microschools as insignificant in the education space due to their size. It’s true that microschools are intentionally small, typically below 100 students, but they are steadily growing nationwide. Small things sometimes make the biggest impact. For example, the 33 million small businesses in the U.S. form the backbone of the economy, comprising 99.9 percent of all companies and employing more than 61 million people. Small is scalable.
In addition to their small size, microschools are also usually low-cost, highly personalized learning programs, often with a creative curriculum and supple scheduling. They were gaining momentum pre-pandemic and took off following COVID school closures and prolonged remote learning. As someone who has been following alternative education trends for years, I suspected microschooling — and its cousin, homeschooling — would remain above pre-pandemic levels even after schools returned to normal. But I have been pleasantly surprised to see a continued acceleration of these programs in many areas of the country.
Tennessee is a case in point. I recently visited five microschools and related learning models around Nashville and Chattanooga. All of them have launched in the past four years and most opened within the past two years. Their enrollment is quickly rising, and some have already hit capacity with long waitlists. Demand for these start-up schools shows no signs of slowing.
