LiberatED Podcast

Before joining Empower Mississippi and spearheading Embark, a microschool accelerator, Elyse Marcellino helped to launch a classical charter school in Georgia, worked as a classroom teacher for several years, and earned a graduate degree in education from Harvard University. Today, she is helping to activate microschools in her home state of Mississippi, while creating a blueprint for others to follow. "MISSISSIPPI MICROSCHOOLS ARE EXPANDING EDUCATION OPTIONS FOR FAMILIES"  Sign up for Kerry's free, weekly email newsletter on education trends at fee.org/liberated.

Cassidy Younghans taught in conventional schools for 5 years before shifting her focus toward self-directed education. She interned at several prominent self-directed learning settings across the U.S. before becoming a cofounder of a full-time, self-directed learning center in Dallas. She learned a lot from that initial entrepreneurial experience, and in 2021 founded Wild Roots, a grassroots self-directed learning community in Dallas. Sign up for Kerry's free, weekly email newsletter on education trends at fee.org/liberated.

Jenny Clark is an Arizona mother of 5 who has been working vigorously over the past several years to expand education options for families, as well as help parents across the country gain a better understanding of the various options available to them. She is the creator of LoveYourSchool.org which is a fantastic platform that highlights various education options and also provides practical learning resources and tools for families.  Sign up for Kerry's free, weekly email newsletter on education trends at fee.org/liberated.

Candace Fish planned to open a microschool with just a few students, but when the former public school teacher launched her low-cost private school, Freedom Preparatory, this August, she had over 130 students signed up. Parents in Wichita, Kansas, as elsewhere, are looking for more education options, and a collaborative entrepreneurial community is creating them.  Sign up for Kerry's free, weekly email newsletter on education trends at fee.org/liberated.

In August, Michael Parsons opened Vandalia Community School as a microschool in Charleston, West Virginia serving about 10 students with two teachers. Infused with Montessori principles and focused on ample outside time, Vandalia serves a diverse group of learners. With the implementation of West Virginia's new Hope Scholarship Program, a near-universal education savings account for K-12 students, Vandalia and models like it are now more accessible to many more families. Read more in my latest Forbes article: In West Virginia, Microschools Come With Hope Sign up for Kerry's free, weekly email newsletter on education trends and extra podcast content at fee.org/liberated.

Gayle Nagle and Maura Duignan founded the Sligo Sudbury School in Sligo, Ireland in 2018. The Sligo Sudbury School is one of dozens of Sudbury-style schools around the world that are modeled after the original Sudbury Valley School in Framingham, Massachusetts that was founded in 1968. Sudbury schools value freedom and autonomy, non-coercive learning, personal responsibility, and democratic self-governance.  In episode 39, I interviewed Sudbury Valley School cofounder Mimsy Sadofsky, and I wrote extensively about Sudbury Valley and the Sudbury model of self-directed education in my Unschooled book. Sign up for Kerry's free, weekly email newsletter on education trends and extra podcast content at fee.org/liberated.

Homeschooling parents Toni and Uli Frallicciardi run Surf Skate Science in South Florida, offering weekly classes for approximately 250 homeschoolers and microschoolers in the greater Fort Lauderdale area each semester. They blend their passion for surfing and skating with their interest and background in science and engineering to create hands-on lessons for local students, as well as for young people across the U.S. Sign up for Kerry's free, weekly email newsletter on education trends at fee.org/liberated.

Pam McEwen is a longtime educator and former certified teacher in the public schools in Wichita, Kansas who decided to launch a tutoring center in 2019. Amidst the education disruption of 2020, parents urged Pam to turn her tutoring center into a full-time, in-person microschool. So, she resigned from the school district to run the Izora Elaine Dean Education Center full-time. Sign up for Kerry's free, weekly email newsletter on education trends at fee.org/liberated.

Matt Bowman began his career as a public school teacher and quickly recognized the ways in which educational technology could act as both an accelerator for education entrepreneurs and as an access point for families who want a more customized, personalized, self-directed approach to education. He launched My Tech High in 2008 and now works directly with public school districts across the country, serving 20,000 students in 10 states. Sign up for Kerry's free, weekly email newsletter on education trends at fee.org/liberated.  

Like many educators today, including some that have been on this podcast, Jon England was a longtime public school teacher who left the classroom to pursue other education-related opportunities. He worked in the public schools for 14 years teaching 5th and 6th grades, and also worked as an elementary school administrator. Jon received his bachelor’s degree in elementary education from the University of Utah and a master’s degree in educational leadership from Western Governors University. He also spent time as a sergeant in the US Marine Corps. Today, Jon is an education policy analyst at the Libertas Institute in Utah working to support education entrepreneurship and school choice, among other policy initiatives. He and his wife also recently launched a podcast called Dimond Education which helps other parents find the best educational fit for their children. "Education Entrepreneurs Face Regulatory Challenges Everywhere. Utah Is Trying To Help." Forbes.com Sign up for Kerry's free, weekly email newsletter on education trends at fee.org/liberated.