LiberatED Podcast

Learn about the education entrepreneurship happening in New Jersey through the stories of various guests. Discover how microschools emerged in response to the pandemic and the vision behind co-learning centers. Explore alternative education options and the need for innovation and creativity in education. Hear about successful proof of concept and market validation for these new models of learning. Discuss the future of co-learning centers and the challenges faced by education entrepreneurs.

Everyone got a taste of virtual learning in 2020, in the wake of widespread school closures. But the district Zoom schooling that most families encountered was nothing like what real, high-quality, virtual learning platforms can offer. These platforms are designed for an online environment, with curriculum tailored to that medium and with teachers who enthusiastically seek out, and are well trained in, virtual instruction. One of these high-quality, well-established virtual platforms is Arizona State University Prep Digital, or ASU Prep Digital for short. As someone both personally and professionally interested in ASU Prep Digital and similar high-quality online learning models, I invited ASU Prep Managing Director and Vice President of Educational Outreach, Julie Young, to join me on today’s episode. Julie was the founding President and CEO of the Florida Virtual School, the world’s first virtual statewide school district that began as a small IBM grant initiative in the 1990s and grew to become the largest public K-12 program in the U.S.

Lainie Liberti is an author, speaker, community leader, teen coach and alternative education advocate who helped to spearhead the thriving worldschooling movement. She is also a mentor and source of inspiration for those of us who embrace the philosophy of non-coercive, self-directed education, or "unschooling."  Lainie co-founded Project World School with her son Miro in 2012. They run teen retreats as month-long immersive learning communities to support self-directed teens from around the world. In 2020, Lainie founded a new organization, Transformative Mentoring for Teens, that offers virtual, one-on-one coaching for teenagers as well as intensive, multi-week courses. Lainie is an adolescent behavioral specialist, certified life coach, and author of the new book, Seen, Heard & Understood: Parenting & Partnering with Teens for Greater Mental Health.

Disruptive innovations begin on the margins and don’t penetrate the mainstream until their quality is proven to be as good, if not better, than more established models. Disruptive innovation is a term that was coined by Clayton Christensen and his colleagues back in the 1990s, and its effects have been seen in many sectors over the years, including education.  In today's episode of the LiberatED podcast, I talk with Michael B. Horn, chairman, co-founder, and a distinguished fellow at the Clayton Christensen Institute in Massachusetts. He has written several books on disruptive innovation in education, and his latest book, From Reopen To Reinvent: (Re)creating School for Every Child was just released this summer. Michael serves as an executive editor at Education Next and is a venture partner at NextGen Venture Partners.  Follow Michael on Twitter @michaelbhorn.

Hillsdale College in Michigan was founded in 1844 by abolitionists, and gained widespread notoriety when it refused to accept any federal or state education funds, including indirect funds such as student loans and grants, so that it could retain its full independence. It also has a reputation for academic excellence and cultural impact. Despite being a small liberal arts college with about 1,500 students, it is a leader in higher education and, now, in K-12 education as well. Hillsdale is expanding its affiliated classical charter school network into several states, as well as providing curriculum support and resources for homeschooling families and classroom teachers.  Our guest today is Dr. Kathleen O’Toole, Assistant Provost for K-12 Education at Hillsdale College, where she leads Hillsdale’s work in K-12 Education. Prior to joining Hillsdale, she was the founding headmaster of Founders Classical Academy of Leander, TX, a classical charter school serving 700 students in grades K-12. Dr. O’Toole holds an M.A. and a Ph.D. in American Politics and Political Philosophy from Claremont Graduate University, and a B.A. in Politics from the University of Dallas.  Hillsdale K-12 Education Resources "A College Fights 'Leftist Academics' by Expanding Into Charter Schools," The New York Times

West Virginia has experienced a dramatic expansion of educational freedom, from the state legislature passing a near-universal Education Savings Account Program, called the Hope Scholarship, to loosening state compulsory school attendance laws for participants of learning pods and microschools.  Microschools, learning pods, homeschooling collaboratives, and low-cost private schools are launching or growing to meet parent demand for more education possibilities. The education entrepreneurs who are creating these models are diverse in their educational philosophies, building a dynamic landscape of learning options from which families can choose. Our guest today is one of these visionary West Virginia education entrepreneurs. Katie Switzer is a mom of four young children and founder of the Monongalia Family Forest School. A mechanical engineer who spent 10 years working at companies such as SpaceX, Katie launched her forest school program last fall and it quickly doubled in size. Her program also recently won a grant from the VELA Education Fund, a philanthropic non-profit whose goal is to provide startup and expansion support for non-traditional K-12 learning models.

Many parents today are understandably concerned about what their children may be learning, or not learning, in school. Curriculum battles have been waged in several states over what government-run schools should and shouldn’t teach, and even some private schools have seen teachers and parents speak out against ideological bias in the classroom, which they say often occurs at the expense of academic rigor. A champion of individual liberty, limited government, and free markets, Connor Boyack has been instrumental in supporting parents who want to expose their children to the principles of a free society—principles that are frequently ignored or undermined in schools. Connor is the creator of The Tuttle Twins children’s book series, as well as many other books for children, teens, and adults. He is the president of Utah’s Libertas Institute which he founded in 2011.  Connor joins us on this episode to talk about the current state of American education, what parents can do to help balance the perspectives their children are being taught, and his newly released 240-page Tuttle Twins book on American History.  CNN Slams Libertarian Children's Books--Causing Sales to Surge (FEE.org)

From Queens, New York to Charlotte, North Carolina, Tiffany Pierce has been building and expanding homeschooling co-ops and co-learning programs for several years now.  When the pandemic hit, her New York City co-op doubled in size, pivoting to a fully outside model with pop-up tents in local parks. Last year, she relocated to North Carolina and replicated her learning model there, bringing together a new and different group of families for co-learning and connection. Now, she hopes to scale her model with a mobile classroom, and help more communities build schooling alternatives. LEAF Facebook group Connect with Tiffany at tiffanyspierce {at} gmail

I love entrepreneurs. They take risks, seize opportunities, invent and innovate, and create abundance for all of us. But I am especially in awe of education entrepreneurs. They plunge into a highly-regulated sector with huge barriers to entry in an effort to challenge the schooling status quo and expand learning options for families.  Manisha Snoyer is one such education entrepreneur. She was a teacher and tutor turned startup founder who has launched various programs and platforms designed to make it easier for parents to personalize their children’s education. Her new startup, Modulo.app, prioritizes child-directed learning while enabling parents to discover resources and tools to help their children grow and flourish. 

"I do not think governments should be dictating in any way, shape, or form the content of the minds of children, either in the United States or anywhere else in the world," says Clemson University Professor C. Bradley Thompson in this compelling episode.  Thompson is a Political Science Professor at Clemson University and Executive Director of the Clemson Institute for the Study of Capitalism. He received his Ph.D. from Brown University and has also been a visiting scholar at Princeton, Harvard, and the University of London.  His most recent book is America's Revolutionary Mind: A Moral History of the American Revolution and the Declaration that Defined It, published in 2019.  You can follow Thompson’s writings on his Substack at https://cbradleythompson.substack.com, and visit his website, EdWatchDaily.com. Thompson's articles at The Objective Standard