September Newsletter
CKI partners featured in new video series from Stand Together and FreeThink
Several CKI partners were recently featured in a series of videos from Stand Together and FreeThink that focus on what a transformed, student-centered system of education in the U.S. can look like.
In the first video, Derek Johnson discusses the purpose of education, and cites CKI partners like VELA as examples of new approaches to education that get kids authentically engaged, help them discover their natural gifts, and become the very best version of themselves.
In the second video, Todd Rose, another CKI partner, describes the issues with our current factory model of education and lays out three recommendations for innovation.
And in the latest video, 50CAN’s Derrell Bradford lays out how residential assignment – the process of assigning students to schools based on their zip codes – is inextricably linked to redlining housing policies from more than a century ago.
Many more videos are on the way!
Outschool named fastest growing education company
With over 100,000 online classes where kids explore their interests, Outschool was recently named the fastest growing education company on the Inc. 5000 2021 list! Fast Company reports on how companies are using Outschool as one important benefit to help with childcare issues for employee’s families. For example, “AXIS Capital now offers Outschool as a year-round benefit to families with children ages 3 to 18, allowing them to access as many online courses as they want throughout the year.”
Outschool has helped teachers reach their full teaching potential as well. For example, Niki Etheridge quit her 9-5 office job to start a children’s make-up school on the Outschool platform. The curriculum includes safety and maintenance tips, photography, costume design and prop-making, while specific classes look at fantasy cosplay and SFX make-up.
VELA Education Fund provides millions in microgrants to edupreneurs
VELA Education Fund was launched in August 2020 as a national, nonprofit fund dedicated to accelerating innovation through hundreds of small-dollar investments in education entrepreneurs serving families outside of traditional classrooms. Their first round of funding – Meet the Moment 1.0 – went on to award more than $2.5 million to 450 grantees impacting 250,000 children and families across the country in 2020. This year, as part of their Meet the Moment 2.0 fund, VELA is committing up to $5 million in microgrants and larger bridge grants. CKI is a proud co-investor in VELA with the Walton Family Foundation.
VELA is committed to providing grants quickly and trusting people and communities to meet learners’ academic and social-emotional needs. Here are just a few recent examples of the hundreds of everyday entrepreneurs who are reimagining education:
The Zucchinis Homeschool Co-Op, in Atlanta, was created out of necessity when two educators felt they needed to have an in-person learning environment for kids during school closures. They’ve been featured by Walton, the Atlanta NPR station, the Atlanta Voice, and via this VELA video profile.
Surf Skate Science is a South Florida organization that teaches kids math and science principles through surfing and skating. Here is a video profile from VELA.
In Charlottesville, VA, International Neighbors – a volunteer organization – is using funding to support three bilingual learning pod educators provide regular, in-person instruction to refugee children who do not speak English.
Twiddle Bugs provides Atlanta-area children on the autism spectrum with hands-on and in-person sensory learning opportunities at a time when so many services have been cut or moved online during school closures.
For many more inspiring VELA “everyday entrepreneur” education stories follow VELA on twitter @VelaEdFund.
Homeschooling at an all time high
Axios featured a new report by Bellwether Education Partners which finds that 2.6 million students switched to homeschooling since the start of the pandemic. According to the Census Bureau, the total number of homeschoolers sits at 5 million students – or 11% of school-age children in the U.S.
The scholarly publication, JSTOR Daily, chronicles how homeschooling went from subversive to mainstream. “…[F]or centuries, most children around the world were educated at home by parents or tutors, there was a marked shift toward schooling away from home by the mid-1800s, when compulsory, formal education emerged in the US. Between 1850 and 1970, few families educated their children at home. But in the mid-1960s and early 1970s, with stirrings of dissatisfaction with the public-school system, homeschooling began to catch on.” Today, homeschooling is in an entirely new phase, driven in particular by a surge in the proportion of students of color engaging in homeschooling.
For more, see:
“American homeschooling goes boom” at Bari Weiss’s Substack
“Back to school alternatives are sprouting as families opt out of district schools” by Kerry McDonald at Forbes.
EdChoice’s Mike McShane asked in a recent Forbes column, “Do Americans want their schools to go back to normal?” He analyzes data from the recent EdChoice Schooling in America poll and 2021 Education Next Survey of Public Opinion. He’s skeptical that families want a return to normal. “I think it is more likely that schools will continue to struggle with the echoes of the pandemic, frustrating parents and educators alike. That frustration will be more powerful than the desire to return to normal, and advocacy for new and better options for families will keep their momentum. We’ll see if I’m right!”
50CAN President Derrell Bradford surveys the opportunities and challenges ahead for K-12 education.
Over the last ten years, over 1,200 entrepreneurs have turned to 4.0 Schools for help turning their ideas into reality. “We think of ourselves as the first institutional funder to invest in people who have ideas for new schools, new educational programs, and EdTech companies,” says Hassan Hassan, CEO of 4.0 Schools.
Charles Koch Institute recently joined America Succeeds’ Durable Skills Initiative alongside organizations like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation, Society for Human Resource Managers, Associated Builders and Contractors, and CompTIA to support efforts to elevate soft skills development in preparing students for the future. “Education is not about memorizing facts and figures,” says Derek Johnson, executive director of Charles Koch Institute. “We need to focus on students discovering their unique talents and applying what they’ve learned. Developing Durable Skills are essential for contributing and finding meaning in work.”
Our partners at the Reason Foundation were featured in a pair of op-eds recently. “Education choice advocates should update their vision for school choice,” says Reason’s Christian Barnard at The74. “It is time they move beyond seeing it as primarily an escape hatch that enables kids to leave underperforming neighborhood schools. . . . The next step is to embrace education funding models that appeal to families that aren’t looking to leave their current school as much as they’re looking for a way to customize and have more control over their student’s education wherever they are at.” And at Real Clear Education, Aaron Smith details how New Hampshire’s Learn Everywhere program “is a glimpse into the future of a more personalized education system in which students are actively learning in their communities.”