As former superintendents who have led large, complex public school systems and worked closely with hundreds more, we know the tension between urgency and constraint that defines system leadership. We’ve each shouldered the responsibility of ensuring every student is served while navigating community aspirations, political scrutiny, fiscal constraints, and legacy systems, demonstrating the importance of microschools opening up opportunities for personalization and flexibility to support student needs and success.

We’ve seen where and how innovation thrives and where systems fall short, as even the most well-intentioned and dedicated leaders run headfirst into rigid structures not built for adaptability. We know the stakes, and we’ve seen what happens when the system cannot meet the moment.

Today’s challenges are increasingly urgent and complex. Learner gaps. Enrollment shifts. Educator shortages. Political flashpoints. Family demands. And beneath it all, a widening chasm between what students experience in school and what they need to thrive in a world shaped by automation, AI, and accelerating change.

Public microschools offer a focused, actionable path forward in this era of uncertainty. Microschools open up opportunities. As small, purpose-built, learning environments, they give public schools and their communities the power to design experiences that are deeply personalized, flexible, and malleable without waiting for entire systems to shift. They can serve students, empower educators, and address community needs.

While the idea isn’t new, today’s reality is. This is not about boutique innovation. Public microschools are a turning point and an invitation to broadly reimagine how we design for relevance and responsiveness inside public systems. They can restore the connection between what students need and what schools provide to transform how we deliver on the promise of public education.

At Getting Smart Collective, Learner-Centered Collaborative, and Transcend, we are not only observers of the microschool movement, we are active partners in shaping it. Our organizations are deeply embedded in designing, launching, and supporting microschools that are centered on learners and grounded in community context.

We came together to create the Public Microschool Playbook because we know that innovation is possible when leaders and educators are trusted to design with clarity of purpose and with learners at the center. We’ve worked alongside system leaders, leveraging public microschools to serve disengaged students, pilot bold learning models, or meet unique needs within their communities.

Read the full article about microschools by Deborah A. Gist, Tom Vander Ark, and Devin Vodicka at The 74.