RAND Report Examining Microschools’ Academic Effects Raises Questions

How best to determine the effects of the microschool sector on the students it serves? An esteemed team of RAND researchers set out to find out, and this month they published their conclusions, which you can read here. 

This latest study was framed as a “test case to see what it might look like to evaluate microschools in a quasi-experimental framework,” as Lauren Covelli, one of the project’s lead researchers, recently described this work. She added that a purpose of this phase of work was to consider, “whether or not we can reasonably draw inferences about the sector based upon the limitations of the research that we can conduct in the space.”

The team utilized NWEA MAP GRD achievement data for students the researchers identified as attending microschools compared with others they found to represent a suitable comparison group.

The academic gains they found in the small sample were virtually indistinguishable from their comparison group. “Researchers are likely to encounter difficulties,” the RAND team observed, for reasons the report details. Among their findings:

“In many microschools, testing is optional, and the students and families who choose to participate in such tests as NWEA MAP may be systematically different than the students who opt out.”

“We also found that microschools may not prioritize academic achievement as measured by standardized assessments, given their larger focus on encouraging social and emotional growth and promoting gains in the soft skills, such as critical thinking and problem solving, needed for success in life.”

The research pointed to characteristics it identified in the student population served by the microschools in the study’s admittedly small sample size. The study noted that many microschools enroll students who are underserved by traditional schools. “Although some research suggests that minority students are underrepresented in microschools, these demographics are changing.”

Additionally, the microschools opting in to NWEA MAP are likely systematically different than other schools in the sector, the researchers observed, noting that “generalized claims about microschools from analyses, such as the one we conducted, are most likely unwarranted.”

The study was the second phase of research on microschools from RAND published this year, with support from the Walton Family Foundation. The researchers have admirably taken time to understand essential dynamics within the microschooling sector, particularly the many ways the unique missions and models of different microschools are responsive to the needs and priorities of the particular children and families they serve.

“Many microschool families opt in to the microschool model because they distrust standardized testing or at least share a belief that standardized testing is not aligned with their own educational values or beliefs,” this latest report explains. Its authors recommend that founders, researchers and others working to understand microschools balance the values driving each model and the available systems of data collection.