The Future of Education

Over the years, I’ve spoken to many of the leaders of a variety of microschools. In my conversation with Luis Brito E Faro, we explore the vision behind Brave Generation Academy, a microschool with its roots in Portugal but hubs all over the world just two years into its existence. The microschool network is serving roughly 1,000 students today with locations in South Africa, Namibia, Mozambique,...

With just under 10 acquisitions in the last 5 years, PowerSchool has been active in transforming itself from a student information systems company to an integrated education company that works across the day and lifecycle of K–12 students and educators. What’s more, the company turned heads in June with its announcement that it was partnering with Microsoft to integrate AI into its PowerSchool Per...

Readers of this newsletter know that a little while back I published a piece titled “ Why System Transformation Is Likely a Pipe Dream: But I’m for System Replacement. ” That piece referenced a white paper by Thomas Arnett of the Clayton Christensen Institute titled “ K–12 Value Networks: The hidden forces that help or hinder learner-centered education .” Tom collaborated on that white paper with...

As Clay Christensen always said, despite its reputation, a good theory is a very practical tool. It helps you to decide what steps will lead to what results in a given circumstance. It's not “theoretical.” In this conversation with Outschool.org's Kris Comeforo, we break down how he used innovation theories to guide a program that Outschool.org put in place to serve homeschool students in Detroit—...

I’m more and more interested in how employees are navigating their career pathways and how they learn to keep up with the fast-changing nature of work. The corollary to that is also how are companies helping their employees stay up to date. Chief Learning Officer Marc Ramos of Cornerstone OnDemand joined me to talk upskilling and reskilling for adult learners and the changes companies need to make...

Kelly Smith, an entrepreneur and founder of one of the hottest microschool networks, Prenda , joined me to talk about his new book, “ A Fire to Be Kindled: How a Generation of Empowered Learners Can Lead Meaningful Lives and Move Humanity Forward .” In our conversation, Kelly shares everything from an update on how Prenda is doing to some of the big themes around his book, which is designed not fo...

As students, parents, and policymakers question the purpose of high schools, educators worldwide are building novel secondary school designs. What makes them "innovative," however? In this conversation, Shadman Uddin, a master’s Student in Education at Stanford Graduate School of Education, offered that what makes a school innovative is less its adherence to a list of “novel” ideas, but more its o...

A serial entrepreneur, Devin Schain joined me to talk about his latest venture, Student Playbook , which helps place college alums in good jobs. In our conversation, Schain described the key opportunity for employers, colleges and universities, and alumni—and the unique solution his team is bringing to market. We also got to talk about one of my favorite non-profit projects of Schain’s, Shalom Lea...

Which colleges best set up its graduates for careers in finance? Or data science? Or law? It turns out that different schools really help students pursue careers in different fields. And other schools, not so much. Our guest, Matt Sigelman, from the Burning Glass Institute, helps breakdown the latest research that they published with the Wall Street Journal on the topic and helps you know what it...

When the Khan World School launched last year as a partnership between the Khan Academy and Arizona State University Prep Digital, it promised a new way forward for virtual schooling. One year later, Sal Khan and Amy McGrath rejoin me to share how the first year went—including some stunning first-year results, lessons learned, and what the next year ahead will look like as they enroll students for...

Senior fellow and director of education policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) Rick Hess recently joined me on the Future of Education to talk about his new book, The Great School Rethink . It's a terrific book that reaches a similar set of conclusions as my own recent book, From Reopen to Reinvent . Rick argues that change in education won't come from on high, but instead from...

In the latest episode of the Future of Education, I interviewed Kenisha Scaggs, founder of the Soar Academy. We talked about everything from the history of the Soar Academy to how she defines student success and why more public school funding won't get us to where we need to go. Scaggs originally started her microschool-turned-private-school in her attic to help kids who were desperately behind in...

The Modern Classrooms Project is a nonprofit dedicated to helping teachers enact personalized learning, student-centered instruction, and mastery-based assessment. They take a grassroots approach by supporting teachers with making the transition to a specific new learning model. Their theory of change is that this approach can help create a tidal wave of change through the resulting ripples and te...

Teach for America is known for taking college graduates and placing them in schools as educators to serve the nation's most vulnerable children. Those corps members in turn often become leaders in helping transform education in the United States. But Teach for America is increasingly paying attention to the education system itself—and acknowledging that it was never built to optimize learning for...

When Diana Diaz-Harrison was looking for good secondary schooling options for her son who is autistic, she wasn't finding great options. She advocated and fought, but eventually decided to take matters into her own hands and started the Arizona Autism Charter School, which is now expanding. And it won this year's Yass Prize, which awards the country's education provider that best demonstrates the...

Mickey Revenaugh was one of the first people working in education I met after Disrupting Class was published. She helped organize one of the first talks I gave about the book—and was in attendance (along with my parents and wife—then my girlfriend). If you haven’t heard of Mickey before, you’re missing out. As the cofounder of Connections Academy, one of the first full-time virtual schools in the...

Engaging alumni—whether to have them help current students or for fundraising—isn't easy for many colleges and universities. And it's arguably been getting harder (especially on the fundraising side) even as the alums of any college or university are often their most valuable asset. What's the benefit to the alums that their alma mater promises? What sorts of engagements are meaningful to them? In...

Carnegie Learning was perhaps the first company to enter the education technology market with an artificial intelligence (AI) powered math learning solution. CEO Barry Malkin joined me to talk about Carnegie Learning's approach, how the company has evolved since those early days, and how they approach some of the hot button questions in math education. In particular we tackled questions around con...

If we're serious about helping all individuals build their passions and fulfill their human potential, then we need to help them not just with their academics, but also focus on their health and wellness and their habits of success. A big part of that can and should be built on a foundation of fitness, which means instilling lifelong habits of fitness when they're in K–12 schools. But that means s...

Anthony Kim has done some of the most impactful work in actually helping school districts implement innovations as the CEO and founder of Education Elements. Now the Chief Learning Officer of Scholarus, of which Education Elements is a part, Anthony joined me to talk about why simply switching out the curriculum of how students learn to read won't be enough to create actual change on the ground th...

Microschools have been around for many years, but many more people enrolled in them during the pandemic. In this conversation, I chatted with Tiffany Dudley, an educator who helped cofound a microschool to help her son during the pandemic. She's also the co-leader of the Black Mothers Forum’s Economic Development Team. The Black Mothers Forum strives to give students of color opportunities that ha...

How do we measure not how smart someone is, but how they are smart? That's the question that Elliott Washor and Big Picture Learning have sought to answer with their innovation—the International Big Picture Learning Credential. Exactly how they have built this set of credentials and made it valid and reliable is the topic of my conversation with Elliott—and what it might portend for the future of...

Having served in a number of roles in education—from the superintendent of public instruction of Ohio to a teacher—Susan Zelman has seen many sides of the American education system. In this conversation, she shares some of the big lessons from her just released book, The Buying and Selling of American Education—and her conclusions about how to move forward to support the success of every single ch...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit michaelbhorn.substack.com Parents are increasingly voting with their feet and making novel schooling choices for their children. What's behind the moves and their desires? Adam Newman and Christian Lehr of Tyton Partners joined me to talk about the vast research they have done in this space to learn about why parents are making choices—...

Homeschooling, charter schools, boarding schools, traditional schools, private schools, and more are all familiar modes of schooling. But the fastest growing segment of K–12 education is also one of the newest and least familiar: microschools. What's behind the microschooling movement? What might it enable? What should we watch out for as it emerges? Don Soifer, the CEO of the National Microschool...