LiberatED Podcast

Happy Thanksgiving! A special note of gratitude to all the entrepreneurs out there. You are the true engines of human progress. *** Sign up for Kerry's free, weekly email newsletter on education trends at fee.org/liberated.

Jeff Sandefer, co-founder of Acton Academy, discusses the origins of Acton Academy and Acton School of Business, the power of personalized learning and focusing on learner's choices, exploring the next great adventure and finding a calling, launching your own Acton Academy, and learning more about Acton Academy through various resources.

More than a decade ago, Dani Foltz-Smith sent her two girls to a new school that had recently opened in Austin, Texas. It was the flagship Acton Academy, launched in 2009 by Jeff and Laura Sandefer to prioritize learner-driven education and enable each child to pursue his or her own “hero’s journey.” Dani’s family adored their Acton experience so much that when they needed to move back to Los Angeles, Dani became the 3rd ever Acton Academy campus, after Austin and Guatemala, opening Acton Academy Venice Beach in 2013.  Today, there are more than 300 Acton Academy microschools serving thousands of learners.  Read more about Dani's school and the greater ecosystem of decentralized education options in the Los Angeles area: In Los Angeles, A Tiny School Lets Young People Direct Their Own Education (The 74) *** Sign up for Kerry's free, weekly email newsletter on education trends at fee.org/liberated.

Refine KC is a full-time, faith-based microschool in the Kansas City, Missouri area that launched in August 2022 with 15 K-12 students. Today, it is at capacity with 40 students, 6 teachers, and a waiting list. Three of Refine KC’s founders are with us on today's podcast to talk about why their school is so popular. "Church-Based Microschools Are 'Sprouting Everywhere'" (The Lion) *** Sign up for Kerry's free, weekly email newsletter on education trends at fee.org/liberated.

Mercedes Grant and Isis Spann, founders of microschools in VA and SC, share their startup stories and advice as education entrepreneurs. They discuss scaling Kipot, benefits of joining a community, freedom of running a microschool, recognition in South Carolina, starting up and scaling challenges, and how to connect with microschools.

As education across the US transforms from a centralized, top-down system to a diverse, decentralized marketplace responsive to the needs and preferences of learners and families, it can create some challenges for the entrepreneurial parents and teachers who are creating these new, bottom-up education solutions. Joining me on the podcast today is Mike Donnelly, an experienced attorney and vice president at the Yes Every Kid Foundation who is working to support today's education entrepreneurs and champion their innovative learning models. *** Sign up for Kerry's free, weekly email newsletter on education trends at fee.org/liberated.

I recently spent time in the greater Kansas City area visiting microschools and learning pods, and talking to founders, and was struck by what I found. All seven of the learning environments I visited were founded within the past three years and all of the founders are former public school teachers who quit and created these alternative programs. They also all expressed greater levels of personal and professional fulfillment.  One of those founders is our guest today, Tara Cassidy. Tara was a public school teacher for 17 years, but grew increasingly frustrated with the institutional bureaucracy and was also not happy with her children’s experiences in the local public schools.  In August 2022, she launched Crossroad Trails Education Center, a low-cost microschool with eight students in a commercial storefront location that previously housed a daycare center. By November, she had 20 students. To accommodate local demand for her program, Cassidy opened up walls and expanded into an adjacent space. She is now at capacity with over 30 mixed-age learners in kindergarten through high school, despite no marketing or outreach.  Forbes: Former Public School Teachers Find Happiness in Entrepreneurship *** Sign up for Kerry's free, weekly email newsletter on education trends at fee.org/liberated.

Alexi Burgess is the co-founder of Alcove Learning, a self-directed learning center for teens and tweens in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles. Alcove opened in January 2020 as part of the Liberated Learners network of self-directed learning centers across the U.S.  In Los Angeles, A Tiny School Lets Young People Direct Their Own Education (The74) *** Sign up for Kerry's free, weekly email newsletter on education trends at fee.org/liberated.

A common question about unconventional educational models, and especially about self-directed ones that put young people in charge of their own education, is how do kids turn out? To help answer that question I’ve invited Evan Hughes, who attended the renowned Sudbury Valley School in Framingham, MA for his childhood and adolescence, and now sends his son there as well.  Sudbury Valley was founded in 1968 and has since inspired the creation of dozens of Sudbury-model schools around the world. It prioritizes non-coercive, self-directed education within a democratically run community where adults and children have equal say in school operations, rule-making and enforcement, hiring and firing decisions, and so on. There are no adult-imposed classes, no grades, no curriculum or top-down evaluative measures. So how exactly does a person learn in this environment? *** Sign up for Kerry's free, weekly email newsletter on education trends at fee.org/liberated.

Frank Farro, cofounder of Acton Academy North Broward, discusses the impact of learner-driven education, exploring education options, growth challenges and expansion, and the potential of learner-driven education to revolutionize the way we view education.