A Montessori “micro-school” model too small and too autonomous for traditional accountability measures wants to launch several charter schools in Indianapolis. The Mind Trust granted $250,000 this week to Wildflower Schools to develop its model, mostly used across the country in private schools, to fit a public charter school design.

Many of Wildflower’s principles don’t easily match up with what state laws expect from charter schools. Its micro-schools intentionally limit an entire school to the size of a typical single classroom, and teachers — not principals or school boards — lead the schools. That’s exactly why the Mind Trust, an education nonprofit and charter school incubator, wanted to bring Wildflower to Indianapolis, said Brandon Brown, the Mind Trust’s senior vice president of education.

Wildflower micro-schools enroll only 20 to 30 students led by two teacher-leaders, and they often open in storefronts so they can feel embedded in communities. Each of the network’s 14 schools operate separately, without the typical administrative structure of most schools or districts. Wildflower is testing how to pair a Montessori approach with technology to help teachers observe and track students’ behavior, through strategies such as embedding sensors into materials and students’ shoes.

“The idea of Wildflower is in many ways parallel to the idea of charters where the charters were trying to break down the construct of hierarchical districts,” said the Wildflower Foundation CEO Matt Kramer, who formerly co-led Teach for America.

With the Mind Trust funding, Wildflower will spend the next few years working through key questions before going through the charter school application process with a local or state authorizer.

Read the full article about innovative education systems by Stephanie Wang at Chalkbeat.