Actions Speak Louder Than Words
The research about parents is consistent – they need a push to make a switch
Recently Adam has written a two part piece (part 1 and part 2) about what motivates parents and educators to choose microschools based on a Jobs to be Done research project Stand Together Trust funded. The Trust also partners with Tyton Partners on research projects.
“Choose to Learn”
This month, Tyton released Part 1 of their latest 2024 series, Choose to Learn. In Part 1 they dive into the variety of educational pathways parents are interested in pursuing for their kid(s). Rather than focusing on parents who have already made the switch, this research starts with a broader audience of “open-minded parents.” Tyton spoke to ~2,000 of these parents and uncovered three distinct personas in this open-minded segment –
School Supplementers – Who supplement their kids current school experience with additional enrichment programs,
School Switchers – Who switch their child’s school experience,
Customizers – Who create a “bespoke educational experience” for their kids by assembling a collection of programs and experiences unique to each kid.
Each persona is taking their own approach to personalizing their kids education, pursuing a type of educational pathway. Tyton found that the two top reasons for parents to pursue alternative education pathways are a better level of individual attention and exposure to learning experiences of direct interest to their kid. It’s reminiscent of their earlier work from 2022, 70% of parents want something different for their kid’s education. Now they’re starting to have the freedom and encouragement to pursue it.
The Pushes
Similar to what is mentioned in the Jobs to be Done research, Choose to Learn highlights that “open-minded parents typically will not act until a catalytic event pushes them to explore new options.” The Jobs to be Done research is complementary in this way – tantamount to their theory – the Jobs to be Done approach believes that “all people strive to make progress in their lives. Progress, however, does not happen devoid of context. People seek progress within a set of circumstances, and those circumstances shape their decisions.” In their words, “A Job is a description of two things: the common struggling moments people find themselves in that impel them toward change, and the desired progress they want to see in their lives.”
Tyton reports that interest is high for all three educational pathways – supplementing, switching, and customizing – barriers to access persist, primarily based on a family’s available financial resources. You could imagine that a customizer turns into a Job 1 parent who wants to find an alternative school or learning approach that honors their perspective and values. The school switcher is a Job 2 parent who sees an unhappy, unsafe, or struggling kid and needs a more urgent solution to regain their safety, confidence, and love of learning. The school supplementer is a Job 3 parent who wants more than just academic milestones for their kid, but a balanced education experience that recognizes other types of learning from social-emotional- to physical activity to creative expression.
More Than the Status Quo
No matter which parent you are, there is a general sense that the status quo is no longer what parents want for their kids (this is no surprise to us given the general factory approach to education we’ve written about previously). Both research partners acknowledge that it is hard for parents to act on when it feels so counter-cultural. Tyton notes,
“Parents’ fear of the new or unknown remains a powerful force among those contemplating new educational options for their child. The observation of a Virginia parent of an elementary school student is representative of this dynamic. “For most people I talk to the biggest issue [in pursuing a customized education program] is fear… Nobody confronts the fear parents face when making a decision that is, in many ways, counter-cultural.” Today, for many open-minded parents, this tension results in stagnation.”
This stagnation is predictable. Todd Rose, founder of Populace, writes about this concept of collective illusions. A collective illusion is “when most people in a group go along with an opinion they don’t agree with because they incorrectly believe that most people agree with it.” It is clear that there’s a collective illusion happening in education right now. According to Tyton’s report, 48% of K-12 parents are considering new educational options different from the status quo, but half of the population of K-12 parents don’t know that they’re not the only ones dissatisfied, so they don’t feel confident enough to do the something different.
Tyton did find that there are key moments that matter for the various personas. While the three pathways are of interest to all parents, regardless of demographic factors, there are notable differences when it comes to observing parents by grade level of their kids.
“Parents of elementary-aged children are more likely to be school switchers, whereas parents of high school students are slightly more likely to be customizers. The structure provided by a traditional school environment and the perceived value of school culture and socialization for younger children likely contributes to this dynamic. Conversely, the relative maturity of high school students and a desire for greater independence and/or autonomy lends itself to a customized model with a higher degree of self-directed learning.”
Entrepreneurs Meet Families in Moments of Struggle
Tyton suggests that it’s incumbent on providers to understand the complexities of how parents make decisions. We believe this push-driven approach that Jobs to be Done offers can support alternative education entrepreneurs and providers in how they communicate what struggles their learning environments can solve for parents.
Instead of advocating for a pull-driven marketing approach for alternative educators, Clayton Christensen Institute’s Tom Arnett writes,
“Another effective lever for connecting people with your solution is to meet them when their moments of struggle (i.e. their pushes) are strongest. To embrace a push-driven approach, shift your advertising from showcasing the benefits of your program to sharing the stories of families whose struggles led them to your program… Inviting prospective families to see themselves in those stories, and then also see your program as their solution.”
So long as pulls – the features of various solutions that make the solutions, like alternative school options, attractive – outweigh the pushes – moments of struggle that nudge people to seek alternatives – parents are unlikely to make a change. They may supplement, but they will not be likely to switch or customize.
Overcoming Inertia
Understanding the open-minded audience is a step toward overcoming the collective illusion in education facing our society right now. This group questions the status quo, if not yet taking action. They’re the group poised to activate if and when family circumstances inevitably change and push and pull forces start to outweigh anxieties and habits. The “inertia of existing routines” is difficult to overpower, but not impossible, and both recent research reports give us insight into how permissionless educators and entrepreneurs can tackle barriers and catalyze those shifts for parents across the country.
Good work pulling together these findings. Makes complete sense. The use of the Todd Rose element is instructive. People looking for alternatives but the social forces holding them back bc they think others aren't similarly dissatisfied.