The first time I held an open house for my brand-new microschool, The Treehouse Agile Learning Center (ALC), I prepared by staring anxiously at my community board. The community board is the lifeblood of an ALC, as it’s where all the collaboration and inspiration happen. I wanted to have perfect systems on there, and be ready with all the right answers for the families coming to see it.
Traditional education tends to create the belief that there is an authority figure who knows all the “right” answers, and everyone under that authority needs to get the same “right” answer. Everything has already been discovered, codified, added to a textbook, and standardized for the test. The student’s job is not to explore and experiment, but to memorize and regurgitate.
And yet, on the digital frontier, there is a broad recognition that the world is changing so rapidly that a software product started last month might be already out of date. Yesterday’s “right” answers might be obsolete tomorrow. There is so much exploration and experimentation yet to be done.
Acknowledging this rapidly changing landscape, seventeen software developers met together in 2001 to rethink the then-heavy-handed and slow-moving software development process. The result was the Agile Software Manifesto.
The four principles listed in the manifesto are:
- Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
- Working software over comprehensive documentation
- Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
- Responding to change over following a plan
The result was a shift from authoritative, top-down work cultures into collaborative, co-working spaces that empowered everyone on the team to offer solutions and ideas. These tech innovators shortened the feedback loop to create more flexibility, which allowed for timely pivots.
In 2012, Arthur Brock, who had extensive experience with agile software development, wondered what education could look like if these agile principles were applied. He worked with Tomis Parker at the Manhattan Free School, and soon the first Agile Learning Center was born.
One of the principles of agile learning is that growth is not a linear process, not a straight line to the “right” answer. Rather, it is an ongoing cycle through phases of intention, action, reflection, and sharing. This concept resonated with me and was one of the reasons I chose to use agile learning as the model for my microschool. But I didn’t realize then that I would live this principle in the very process of opening and growing my school.
When you start building an educational environment, you ask many questions. What ages will I serve? If I do mixed ages, how will I structure the day to meet the mix of abilities? How much will I charge, and how will I collect and track payments? A traditionally schooled mindset will tell you there is a “right” answer to each of these. Or you might wish for an authority figure to make all these “right” choices for you.
Entrepreneurs tend to think less in terms of right and wrong, and more in terms of trade-off. As the renowned economist Thomas Sowell said: “There are no solutions; there are only trade-offs.” Often, the reason we want to choose the “right” answer is to avoid every possible negative outcome. Seeing things as trade-offs is the acceptance that there is no such thing as a right answer—there is no way to avoid all potential downsides. It requires that you get clear about your needs and values, and pick the option that best aligns, even though it might have some parts you don’t like. All decisions involve trade-offs.
Like entrepreneurship, agile learning gives both kids and their adult leaders permission not to have all the answers before starting to experiment and discover.
As I stared at my community board and debated if I had it set up “right” for the open house, the agile principle of growth cycles came to my mind.
I knew the goal wasn’t to have it all set up perfectly. I was going to live this principle out loud in front of my students:
- Intention: Have a space where we can announce and request “offerings” (ALC lingo for organized classes, clubs, or activities).
- Action: Build a space.
- Reflection: After using the space for a while, reflect on it and make adjustments to align more closely to our needs and values.
We were going to pivot as needed and try again. We were going to be agile.
For new school founders and aspiring education entrepreneurs, you don’t need to have all the answers. Your intentional plan can start very simple, staying true to the philosophy and methodology that you want to offer. Don’t try to be all things to all people. Then, make reflection a regular part of your personal system, so you can iterate and adapt as needed. Agility is an entrepreneur’s best tool.
