Black Mothers Forum Leads Microschool Movement To Combat Systemic Racism in Education

There is a rise in the number of students being homeschooled or attending microschools following the pandemic and the desire for Black families to keep their children safe.

Arizona’s Black Mothers Forum is on a mission to dispel racism in education through its network of microschools.

Since the pandemic, the rise in Black families seeking education alternatives for their children has led to an uptick in homeschooled students across the nation as well as those attending microschools. Whether it is out of fear of safety or the desire to make sure their children get access to the proper support and resources that they need, Black families are taking matters into their own hands when it comes to the education of their loved ones. For one mother, Janelle Wood, her primary interest in microschools stems from the desire to protect Black children from systemic racism.

Often referred to as learning pods, microschools reimagine the one-room schoolhouse, which typically includes fewer than 15 students across several age groups. The curriculum at this type of educational institution is specifically tailored to fit the needs of each class, and microschools typically serve as a “mid-point between traditional schooling and homeschooling.”

“I’m a reverend,” said Wood, the founder of Black Mothers Forum, a network of nine microschools operating in Arizona. For her, it was all about honoring the call to “be a voice for those without a voice.”

Black Mothers Forum was launched by Wood and fellow mothers in 2016. The network of microschools set up in Arizona was created as they looked for ways to express feelings of anger, sadness, and frustration following the killings of young Black men like Michael Brown and Freddie Gray. Additionally, the group aims to combat the school-to-prison pipeline, which starts in classrooms across America.

According to the group, the school-to-prison pipeline affects Black and brown students as well as those with emotional disabilities at disproportionate levels through “zero-tolerance” policies, leaving them either suspended or expelled from school. During the 2015-16 school year, 290,600 students were either arrested or referred to law enforcement agencies. While only 15% of those students were Black, they represented 31% of the referrals and arrests. On the contrary, 49% of the students were white. However, those students only represented 36% of the arrests and referrals. Another 26% were Hispanic or LatinX, and they represented 24% of the run-ins with law enforcement officials.

For Wood, launching the microschool network in Arizona creates a learning environment that may be small in size, but large in the support of the community. Additionally, when Black students need correction, she believes it comes from a genuine place of support that is often absent in public schools.

“The milestones provide a space for them to grow, a space for them to be seen as human, as validated,” said Wood. “Some children need a smaller environment, and microschools seem to be doing the job for a lot of these kids.”

As the number of struggling students rose during the pandemic, so did an interest in finding alternatives to traditional public schooling. John Hopkins University’s Homeschool Hub reports that 5 to 6% of all K-12 students are homeschooled. Not only do homeschools and microschools provide young scholars with different ways to learn, but Wood says it also helps Black students to be seen by people who are not committed to misunderstanding them.

“Let someone who actually understands [the students who are struggling] and looks like them be the ones that work with them and watch the difference in these children,” she said. “Now you don’t lose children, you’re now helping children.”

As Wood and the Black Mothers Forum look to expand to offer support to more underserved youth across the state of Arizona, she is actively seeking the support of public schools to partner with and equip the microschools with the necessary resources needed to thrive.