On the heels of the COVID-19 pandemic, many parents and guardians of K-12 students became keenly aware of what was possible by way of remote learning, in a way many of them never experienced as students. With this newfound knowledge many families began showing interest in hybrid school options, so that they may continue playing a more active role in their students’ learning without assuming the sole responsibilities of the educational load, as do traditional homeschool families.
In their 2023 National Hybrid Schools Survey, researchers at Kennesaw State University define hybrid schools as those in which, “1. most or all of the curriculum is decided by the school (though varying levels of instruction and grading may be done by parents), and 2. students attend live classes fewer than 5 days per week in a physical building, and are “homeschooled” the rest of the week.” While many of these schools have existed far before the COVID-19 Pandemic, they have been growing in popularity.
With the social unrest and racial reckoning that followed the lynching death of George Floyd, Jr., many Black families, in general, began looking for educational options that were more inclusive of their cultural and racial identities and histories. It was at this impasse that there began an uptick in Black families choosing to homeschool their children. The Census Bureau reported the percentage of black families homeschooling grew from 3.3 percent in April 2020 to 16.1 percent in October 2020.
Black Enterprise reported that by 2024, more than 41% of homeschooling families reported being non-white families. While homeschooling options used to be viewed as more niche options reserved for rich families, with the option of work from home jobs, many parents are opting to venture into allowing their students to learn from home, as they work from home. In the grand scheme of things, the question is how sustainable these homeschool structures are and the lingering truth that many of these families are still paying taxes to local schools in most places where school vouchers are not an option.
Understanding the desire that parents have for an option that allows them to be more regularly embedded in their children’s learning experience to ensure their needs are being met, hybrid programs are poised to be viable options for schools both private and public alike. In 2023, 87% of hybrid schools identified as private schools, but some public schools are starting to explore the option, as the needs of their communities increase the demand.
Dallas Independent School District is one of the first districts in the state of Texas to launch a hybrid school with their Dallas Hybrid Preparatory at Stephen J. Hay campus for grades 3-8. Their model allows for students to be taught at home 3 days a week and on campus for two days. Campus principal, Olga Romero, explained “Right now there’s lots of people that are working half-time at home and half-time at their offices, so we wanted to pretty much replicate that model because it’s the model of the future.” As research is gathered from the innovation taking place on this campus, more districts will hopefully feel confident in stepping into the innovation of the future.
Where some families may not feel comfortable bearing the entire weight of the educational burden of their children, from selecting the best curriculum, to executing the instruction and aligning assessment of students mastery, etc., many may feel empowered by the fact that they can co-pilot with public hybrid campuses where certified teachers are still in the drivers seat. This approach frees parents up to still supplement curriculum, especially for families wanting to ensure their students culture and history is felt in school lessons, and allow for the experiential learning and field experiences that make learning more dynamic for their children.
In a recent social media survey of parents, many expressed an interest in opting in to a hybrid option with the empathetic acknowledgement that this choice option would only work for some families. In an age where overcrowded classrooms and limited resources are compulsively an issue, hybrid options, within schools that also offer families traditional schooling options, could be one way to get the most out of overloaded teachers being required to do more and more every year. For instance, if an elementary teacher with a class load of 26 students only had 10 families opt in for a hybrid program, that could mean 3 days a week where they had to be face to face with 16 students, and 2 days a week where they had all 26 in person. While such a transition would surely take some calibrating and adjusting, the possibilities would be endless.
While traditional schooling sits on one end of the spectrum, and homeschooling on the other, hybrid schools sit perched in the middle as a means for parents looking for an option where their children receive the social and academic interactions with other students while leveraging the tax-paying resources and professional guidance of the educational professionals school districts vet and employee. In a time where the war for school choice and vouchers seem to divide people like never before, hybrid schooling options may be just what parents need to unlock the potential of many students in an ever changing educational landscape.
