Sam Duell is the Policy Director for Charter Schools at ExcelinEd.
There is a lot going on in the world right now. Sickness. Changing economy. Potentially war. If you’re not careful, all that news might mean you miss something important. Remember Mister Rogers’ advice? “When I was a boy,” Mister Rogers shared, “and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’”
This is National School Choice Week, and you may have heard about the struggle to expand opportunity. If we knew each other as friends, I might admit to you that I’m tired of the same old fights. So this week I found myself looking for something different, something inspirational. I was looking for something that would renew my hope and refresh my spirit.
I think I found it: builders. Ten builders from more than eight states, to be exact. They are people who decided to proactively build something valuable, and I would love to share their work with you.
Five of these builders are grantees of the VELA Education Fund, a relatively new philanthropic endeavor that is about exploring new possibilities. VELA moved fast in 2021, awarding a total of $8 million to 780 grantees, 53 percent of whom identify as people of color. Five additional builders come from other places. For example, there is an organization in Idaho that incubates new public schools. Another group built an enrichment program based on a microschool founded by Elon Musk. Together, these ten builders intrigued and inspired me because I believe they demonstrate that there is hope for students, even now.
Elijah Moses founded a project-based program to teach students math and engineering through carpentry skills. But this enrichment program is so much more than fun projects. Take 3 minutes and see for yourself.
Kara Bobroff and Alan Brauer started a program to teach students about indigenous culture, food and nutrition through land-based learning. As Kara says, “The more students can be outside and in a natural learning environment, the more successful they’re going to be overall.”
Khabral Muhammad reminds us that, “It’s important to remember that life doesn’t stop just because the pandemic hit and the need to provide for one’s family doesn’t go away.” And founder Mikala Streeter adds, “No one could have anticipated the situation, but it’s allowed us to create this wonderful community that’s having an incredible impact.” Together, they have built a thriving microschool in Atlanta.
“If you’re passionate about something, you can do anything,” according to Toni Fralliciardi. She and her husband, Ulises, founded a STEAM program that uses surfing and skating to teach students about physics and math.
Founded by Bernita Bradley, this organization coaches parents to successfully homeschool their children. Pointedly, Ms. Bradley declared, “If schools won’t reinvent education, we have to reinvent it ourselves. And our goal at Engaged Detroit is to make sure families have the tools so that choice is in their hands. Because ultimately every parent wants their kid to be successful. Successful and happy.”
Terry Ryan founded BLUUM as a nonprofit that would support the development of new schools in Idaho. In 2021, the organization brought nearly 2,000 new seats to the state. See real teachers and students discuss the impact of new public schools in Idaho in this clip.
Founded by Amar Kumar, this organization is expanding quickly to serve families looking for the microschool experience. Hear from their students, parents and teachers in this short clip.
Kelly Smith founded his own microschool movement when Prenda microschools grew from about 40 students to more than 4,000 in about 18 months. If you’d like to know what a day in the life of a Prenda student is like, you should check this out.
Vlad Stan founded this online community to connect world-schoolers, unschoolers and home schoolers. To read why a parent in Singapore decided to enroll in Galileo, look here. To read what Vlad says this school is all about, look here. And to hear from Galileo students yourself, check out this clip.
This is a live, online, gamified enrichment program that was founded by Chrisman Frank and Josh Dahn based on their experiences at the microschool built by Elon Musk, Ad Astra. Yes, Elon Musk. He’s probably the least interesting part of the story though. Check it out for yourself here.
These builders give me hope for our children because you simply can’t make life better without people who have a bias toward action. As Walt Disney said, “You can dream, create, design and build the most wonderful place in the world. But it requires people to make the dream a reality.”
Here’s my message to policymakers this week: You can be builders. You can support policies that will encourage (or at least not hinder) builders from creating new opportunities. This week I hope you will join the designers, creators and builders who are actively making life better. As Elijah Moses says, “I believe in building.” I hope policymakers will believe in building too.
