National Microschooling Center's Thursday Bulletin
Hello Microschooling Community!
The National Microschooling Center is excited today to publish this national report on microschools’ impact,“Measuring the Microschool Experience: A National Analysis of Student Experiences, Family Perspectives, and Learning Outcomes,” by Daniel Hamlin.
Today's coverage of the research in The 74 noted, "Students attending microschools are progressing at the same rate as their peers nationally and sometimes a whole lot faster than expected, even though parents often choose such programs because their kids have disabilities or other significant challenges, new data shows."
Professor Hamlin writes, “As microschools may have started to fortify their place in the American education landscape, it is critical to understand how they are performing and whether they are meeting their stated missions.”
This report analyzes data from student surveys, parent/caregiver surveys, and student academic E LA and math assessments collected from 43 microschools in 20 states during the 2025-26 school year. Working with Professor Hamlin as independent evaluator, the researchers worked with microschool leaders to measure their impact in ways aligned with their unique missions and goals, and responsive to the goals and needs of the families they serve.
Among a wide array of pertinent findings include:
- Assessment impact data suggest that microschool students largely perform no better or worse than expected on standardized tests in ELA and math,
- Students and parents report extraordinarily positive experiences in microschools across a range of non-academic and academic indicators.
- Parents hold strong positive perceptions of their child’s microschool across academic, social-emotional, and life skills domains. In the survey, a striking 97% of respondents say that they are satisfied/very satisfied with their child’s microschool overall.
- 90% of microschool students report strong relationships with teachers across a range of measures while 95% say that they feel safe at school. More than 95% of students report being treated with respect by their teachers, and 97% indicate that their teachers care about them, want what is best for them, and care about their learning.
The authors can be reached for inquiry or comment at info@microschoolingcenter.org.
You can read more and download the report here.
Watch Dr. Hamlin and Don Soifer discuss this research and its implications Thursday at 3:45e/12:45p at the Kennedy School of Government’s Emerging School Models conference. Register to watch stream here.
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