Kerry McDonald is the Velinda Jonson Family Education Fellow at State Policy Network.

When it comes to the state of American public schooling, there is a lot to be upset about. This is particularly true in Detroit, where the city’s public schools consistently rank at the bottom in academic performance compared to other urban districts across the U.S. In 2022, results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) revealed that only 4 percent of Detroit eighth graders were proficient in math, and only 5 percent of eighth graders were proficient in reading.

While these trends are disheartening, there is also much to be positive about when it comes to education in the Motor City. Detroit is experiencing an educational renaissance, driven by entrepreneurial parents who are taking their children’s education into their own hands and building community with other families who wish to challenge the schooling status quo.

Earlier this month, I connected with several of these visionary parents at a workshop sponsored by SPN and its Michigan partner, the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. Hosted at Engaged Detroit, the homeschool collaborative launched in 2020 by parent-advocate Bernita Bradley that now serves nearly 250 homeschooled children throughout Detroit, the workshop was focused on the experiences and challenges of entrepreneurial parents and educators who are creating new and different K-12 learning models that are all low-cost and widely accessible to urban families.

Some of these challenges include how to scale to satisfy unmet demand. This is an issue for entrepreneurial parents like Syreeta Farria whose popular homeschool program, Detroit Discoverers, is at capacity with a long waiting list. Similarly, Danna Guzman’s sought-after self-directed microschool for homeschoolers in southwest Detroit is also contemplating its growth strategy. Both of these organizations, as well as Engaged Detroit, have enjoyed private philanthropic support from organizations such as the VELA Education Fund, but access to sustainable funding remains a major barrier to starting and scaling innovative, out-of-system learning models.

Education choice policies now being adopted in many states across the U.S. can facilitate the introduction and growth of these models if they are flexible enough to include the creative, individualized educational options that many parents want.

“It was an honor to be among such an inspiring and passionate group of change agents in the education freedom movement,” said Molly Macek, director of education policy at the Mackinac Center. “I have no doubt their dedication to increasing access to more learning options will give hope to and inspire many others to join the movement. At the Mackinac Center, we plan to support these entrepreneurs by sharing their stories, hosting community networking events, and impressing on the legislature the urgent need for change.”

The entrepreneurial parents and teachers building microschools, learning pods, homeschooling collaboratives, and similar programs in communities across the U.S. are not just trying to create better schools. They are reimagining the whole idea of schooling by empowering families and putting learners first. The result is a diverse, decentralized education ecosystem where children thrive.