What Does it Take to Make a Great Microschool Leader?
Jan 29, 2025
auto_awesome
Coi Morefield, founder of the Lab School of Memphis and Microschool Masters, shares her mission to elevate microschool education. She discusses unique challenges in training educators for these small, personalized environments. Morefield emphasizes the importance of mindset shifts and sustainable practices to tackle high staff turnover. Her innovative platform, likened to MasterClass, provides vital resources on compliance, governance, and effective teaching strategies, aiming to empower educators and build a supportive community.
Enhancing adult learning through tailored professional development is crucial for fostering exceptional educators in microschools.
Implementing effective retention strategies can significantly reduce teacher turnover costs, ensuring the sustainability and growth of microschools.
Deep dives
Transforming Adult Learning in Micro Schools
The significance of enhancing adult learning in micro schools is underscored with a focus on developing exceptional educators. Micro schools require a unique approach to training, as traditional professional development often fails to align with the personalized and small-scale nature of these educational environments. To address this, a new platform, Microschool Masters, has been introduced, which offers tailored courses for teachers that transcend conventional training methods. These courses aim to create a community of educators equipped to foster entrepreneurial mindsets, curriculum design skills, and effective parent communication strategies, ultimately enriching the learning experience for students.
Cost of Teacher Turnover and Its Implications
Teacher turnover poses a significant financial challenge for micro schools, with the cost of replacing a teacher averaging around $14,000. These costs arise not only from job postings and interviews but also from lost productivity during the onboarding of new staff. Effective teacher retention strategies, such as structured development programs, can markedly improve retention rates from eight to 25 percent, thereby alleviating the economic burden faced by educators. Addressing turnover and developing a robust support system for teachers is essential for the sustainability and growth of micro schools.
Building a Network for Educators
Opportunities for networking and collaboration are crucial in fostering a sense of community among micro school educators and founders. Through platforms like LinkedIn and scheduled Q&A sessions with expert instructors, educators can engage, share resources, and seek support for their immediate challenges. The emphasis on compensating instructors fairly for their expertise promotes a collaborative spirit and builds stronger bonds within the education community. This collective approach encourages professional growth and helps ensure that innovative practices are shared and implemented across the micro schooling landscape.
In this engaging episode of the Getting Smart podcast, hosts Jordan Luster and Victoria Andrews dive into the world of micro schools with Coi Morefield, the innovative founder of the Lab School of Memphis. Morefield introduces Microschool Masters, a groundbreaking platform designed to address the unique challenges of microschool education by transforming teaching teams into exceptional educators and leaders. With a focus on adult learning, Morefield emphasizes the importance of mindset shifts and sustainable practices to retain educators and decrease costly turnover. The conversation highlights how microschools, with their small, personalized settings, require a distinct approach to teacher training and professional development compared to traditional models. Morefield shares how her platform is akin to MasterClass, offering high-quality, digestible courses that not only cover essential educational strategies but also critical areas like compliance and governance. This episode is a must-listen for those interested in the future of education and the transformative potential of microschools.
Outline
(00:00) Revolutionizing Education at SXSW EDU 2025
(01:06) Introduction to the Getting Smart Podcast
(02:31) The Vision for Adult Learning in Micro Schools
(03:50) Challenges and Solutions in Micro School Education
(08:32) Building Community and Ensuring Compliance