13. Accountability and Support
Quick summary: The way we evaluate students doing modular learning needs to be different from how we evaluate students in traditional schools. Standardized tests are designed to ensure that most students nationwide perform at an acceptable level. In modular learning, we want to ensure that one child performs at the highest level relative to their own capacity. We look at developmental milestones, academic readiness and continually iterate our goals and process.
Creating a framework for experimentation
Modular learning Vs. School for accountability
Product design principles embedded in modular earning
Key performance indicators
Getting into College
Assessments and Tools
Building a Digital Portfolio
Where to find support
Measuring and documenting learning outcomes
The greatest hope of most parents is to help their children realize their full potential. The greatest fear of most parents is failing their children. Traditional School, with grades and standardized tests, certified teachers, and experienced school administrators, provides a certain level of security for families that they’re doing right for their child.
Families who choose modular learning are taking responsibility for their children’s learning and social-emotional outcomes, as well as their chances of getting into a good college and having a fulfilling career in the future. But there is no universal road map for parents who choose this route.
Since every child learns differently, successful modular learning will look different for every family. By choosing modular learning, you’re making a bet that customizing their education will lead to better learning outcomes than following a cookie-cutter path. Like any artist or entrepreneur, you’re taking a risk in the hopes of making something better.
Fortunately, creating a proper framework for experimentation can mitigate many risks.
Creating a framework for experimentation
When building new software, we often discuss creating a strong framework for experimentation. A good framework for experimentation involves hypotheses, clear metrics that define success (KPIs), and tools to evaluate how you’re performing relative to those outcomes. In good product design, products are never finished but continuously improved based on data from structured experiments running all the time.
Failure is an indispensable part of experimentation. As you embark on this new path, there will be many times that you'll be tempted to do what your friend is doing or fall back on standardized learning outcomes. Having a clear framework for experimentation will help you realistically assess how well your program is going relative to your goals - and constantly evolve it to better suit your child’s academic, social, and emotional needs.
If this sounds hard, it’s not.
Unlike building a tech company, you only have one user, your child (you can also incorporate goals such as family well-being into your metrics). If you have multiple siblings, modular learning will look different for each of them.
Sometimes startup founders have to be reminded to get user feedback. Parents don’t have to remind their kids to give them feedback:) As long as you have clear goals about what you want to achieve from modular learning and are open to trying new things, failing, and adapting along the way, you already have a framework for experimentation that will serve you well.
In this section, we discuss the difference in evaluating outcomes in modular learning and traditional school, what to evaluate, tools and software to support families in measuring progress, and advice on getting into college.
Modular learning vs. school: why traditional exams are less important
Continuous vs. Periodic Evaluation: Why modular learning is easier
In many ways, it’s easier to organically evaluate how a child is doing in modular learning than in school. In school, children are evaluated periodically, using quizzes and exams. Teachers and schools can use those quizzes and tests to tailor learning to how the group is doing as a whole.
In modular learning, the lead educator (typically the parent) continuously observes one child and changes methods and tools to better support that particular child’s education. Even if a parent doesn’t have clearly defined metrics for success, this simple ability to observe and iterate as they go improves learning outcomes.
Product design principles embedded in modular learning
Part of the appeal of modular learning is that it reflects many of the principles of good product design
Parents identify a problem
Traditional learning isn’t the ideal solution for their kids or their family. Maybe their child isn’t thriving academically. Perhaps they’re being bullied at school. Possibly, the whole family is simply exhausted from the grind of 6 am wake-up, breakfast, dress, school/work, pick-up, homework, bath, teeth brushing, pajamas, bed, 15 minutes of alone time, crash, sleep, rinse, and repeat.
They propose a solution: modular learning
Customized education, social learning, and childcare will improve learning and family well-being. If they have several children, there are multiple user archetypes whose needs constantly change as they grow.
They identify metrics for success
Either consciously or unconsciously, families decide what’s important to them and watch to see how their kids are doing relative to those outcomes. At a minimum, most families are measuring their child’s enjoyment and the progress they are making.
They create an MVP
Based on a high level of expertise they’ve gained about their child through years of observation. They choose modules: a schedule, curriculum, and social experiences they hypothesize will meet their child’s needs.
They keep changing and improving
They continue to evaluate and iterate to improve the user experience relative to their metrics, changing curriculum, teaching strategy, and social experiences. The cost of failing and adjusting the strategy (trying a different curriculum, making a new friend) is much lower than enrolling in a traditional private or public school.
There is a direct feedback loop
They see how their child is doing, hear their complaints and excitement and shift the approach as it's happening.
Key Performance Indicators
At Modulo, we’ve found that there isn’t a lot of guidance out there to help support parents develop metrics for success. While most families who choose modular learning don’t think standardized tests provide constructive feedback, they aren’t aware of alternative ways to measure progress.
Another significant advantage to modular learning is that families can measure a child’s progress relative to that child’s own potential, as opposed to how their peers are doing.
Here are the key metrics we use at Modulo to help families ensure kids are thriving:
1) Family goals: Your individual goals for your child’s education and quality of family life
2) Developmental Milestones: Cognitive, social, and emotional milestones for every age.
3) Academic Readiness: Typical academic skills at every grade level
4) Getting into College & career readiness: Projects and skills to help children get accepted into the college of their choice and prepare for financial success as adults.
Family Goals
Every family has different values, lives in a unique community, and has specific challenges and hopes for their child’s present well-being and future happiness. Those goals might be happiness and self-efficacy or something more concrete like teaching financial literacy or art history. Some families might want to shape their children into leaders who give back to their community.
There’s evidence that people who write down their goals are more likely to achieve them. Whatever your goals, we recommend taking some time at the beginning of your modular learning journey to write them down in a journal - or even on a big piece of paper you can look at every day.
Even better, include your child in this process. What are their own goals for their education, social life, and quality time with family? It’s so helpful to give them this opportunity to participate actively in their learning and get the whole team aligned on goals. You can revisit these goals annually, monthly, weekly, or daily to ensure you’re on the right path:
2. Developmental Milestones
Our friends at Understood.org have done a fabulous job at giving parents a guideline for where their child should be cognitively, socially, and emotionally at each age. This can be an invaluable tool to determine if some weaknesses or strengths could use extra attention - or identify challenges that need additional support. Understood.org no longer has a pillar page for each grade level, so we’ve included them here.
Elementary (1st-5th)
Middle Schoolers (6th-8th)
High Schoolers (9th-12th)
3. Academic Readiness
If you’re 100% focused on helping your child thrive relative to their own potential, there’s no need for them to be learning the same things that their peers are learning at school. But for some families, it may be especially important to keep the door back to school open. While it’s generally possible to opt out, some states do require homeschoolers to take standardized exams.
Homeschoolers with a good mastery-based curriculum and a little structure should have no problem with standardized tests. However, having context for what children study at school in every grade helps ensure your child won’t feel lost if they choose to return to school. Fortunately, a lot of the educational software developed for modular learning is already aligned with state and federal standards for learning - and has built-in assessment tools.
Parents might just be curious to see how well their program is working relative to traditional school.
Here are Understood.org’s helpful academic readiness standards for starting every grade.
Here are the skills kids need to enter school starting at:
Getting into College
Some homeschoolers skip college and have no problem preparing themselves for successful careers as entrepreneurs, software engineers, visual artists, or welders. For those that are interested in college, there’s some good news.
The homeschool advantage
Universities have an increasingly positive view of homeschooled students who tend to have high levels of independence and much more eclectic backgrounds relative to peers who went through traditional school.
Independence
When Olivia Farrar started Harvard, she was already well prepared to drive her own learning:
“I’m not used to having these chunks of the day where somebody else has decided for me what I should be doing with my time…I think time management has always been one of my assets just because it was organic. I had to tell myself to sit down and do my homework. Nobody told me to do it.” - Olivia Farrar (Harvard ‘21)
After graduating from Harvard with a 3.9 Magna Cum Laude Plus, Farrar was immediately accepted into a Master's Program at Oxford University.
From MIT Admissions:
“One quality that we look for in all of our applicants is evidence of having taken initiative, showing an entrepreneurial spirit, and making the most of their opportunities. Many of our admitted homeschooled applicants really shine in this area. These students truly take advantage of their less constrained educational environment to take on exciting projects, go in depth in topics that excite them, create new opportunities for themselves and others, and more.”
An eclectic Background
Schools love that homeschoolers have had time to explore a wide array of interests. Here are areas where homeschooling students often excel - and where students can put special emphasis if getting into a top college is a priority.
Eclectic Extracurriculars (Music, Electronics, Coding)
Impressive projects (Starting a business, Buiting a robot)
Volunteering
Taking advanced classes at community colleges (or via MOOCs)
Work experience
Former dean of first-year students and undergraduate advising at Stanford University Julie Lythcott-Haims says admissions officers at elite colleges are often dismayed that so few applicants have work experience, which many homeschoolers possess.
At Stanford, homeschool students score exceptionally high for “intellectual vitality,” one of the key criteria used by the admissions committee to rank applicants.
Getting in
To prepare for college, it’s helpful to document a child’s progress and provide a portfolio of achievements (especially related to extracurriculars, projects, volunteering, advanced classes, and work experience). This can be accomplished through a simple google folder where families upload photos of relevant projects.
Often colleges will require a GED or equivalent. Most homeschoolers use GEDs in lieu of high school diplomas. Homeschoolers can also take AP exams to document their expertise in multiple subject areas.
And it’s ok not to go to college too! (These people didn’t get a college degree). A college degree is no guarantee of future employment. Micro-credentialing is an increasingly popular way for employers to evaluate skills. Entrepreneurship, engineering, and visual and performing arts are all career paths that don’t necessarily require a college degree. College has many benefits, but it's also a very personal choice. Families should know that the higher education landscape will likely change considerably over the next decade.
Assessments and Tools
Getting tested is a personal choice for every family and not a requirement.
Assessments can be a valuable way to put your mind at ease and also identify if your child needs special services. According to Riverside Insights, there are four primary types of tests: Diagnostic, Formative, Summative, and Norm-Referenced.
Diagnostic tests are generally given before a program of study to identify strengths and challenges. They can help identify learning challenges and diagnose giftedness.
Formative tests are administered during a course to help an instructor determine how well the student is mastering the material and provide the teacher feedback on how to improve the course overall.
Summative tests help measure how well students mastered a specific set of standards at the end of the learning process.
Norm-referenced tests help instructors understand how students are performing relative to peers.
Four popular assessments & tools
MobyMax: MobyMax is educational software designed to help identify student strengths and challenges and to close learning gaps. It’s especially helpful for determining academic readiness, though it also covers social-emotional learning. It is the most accessible exam for parents to see how their children perform relative to their peers. It only costs $9.99/month and is available online. There’s no need to visit a testing center or hire a proctor. It even offers adaptive online lessons to help kids target weak areas.
Iowa Assessments and ITBS are summative and nor-referenced assessments with diagnostic components that can help show student growth relative to 21st-century skills. They include norm-referenced and criterion-referenced scales. They’re valuable for assessing student performance relative to peers, year-over-year growth, and college and career readiness.
CoGAT: The CoGAT is a diagnostic exam. It’s most often used to diagnose students as gifted for placement in gifted programs. The CoGat offers information on Verbal, Quantitative, and Figural (Nonverbal) reasoning skills. The CoGat can be ordered through a testing agency but must have a proctor to evaluate answers. Often local schools also will administer this test to homeschoolers. BJU is one company that offers online options for homeschoolers to take the CoGAT.
Woodcock-Johnson IV: The Woodcock-Johnson IV is a diagnostic exam that can help families identify learning challenges such as dyslexia, dysgraphia, and dyscalculia. It can help families get an IEP that offers them access to special services, even as homeschoolers.
Where to get tested
Homeschool Boss is a great resource for homeschool families who take tests online. They have excellent customer service and offer a wide variety of tests online, available on the same day as requested.
Building a Digital Portfolio
A portfolio can come in handy for documenting progress to show to the state, schools, colleges, or any present or future stakeholders in your child’s education (such as homeschoolers tutors). It can also be a valuable way for you and your child to reflect on what you’ve accomplished. It can be helpful to ask other homeschoolers in their area to share their portfolios. They don’t have to be complicated. A simple google drive folder where you regularly upload photos of reports from digital apps, worksheets, and photos of special accomplishments is more than sufficient.
Some states require families to submit portfolios to be reviewed by certified teachers (try to find a homeschool parent who is a certified teacher to do this if possible).
Tools and software
Google Drive Folder
Upload photos of worksheets, exams, any other special projects, photos of the dashboard, or special achievements in digital apps. Include a document that includes each curriculum tool the child is using and the levels they’ve completed. Google Drive can be installed as an app on your phone, making it incredibly easy to take quick photos or notes and add them to the portfolio as you go.
Here are some items you can include in your drive.
Photos of worksheets:
PDFs of Parent dashboards: Digital apps like Beast Academy have parent dashboards that include extensive info about student progress.
Photos of special projects: field trips, arts & crafts, robotics, etc.
Alternatives to google drive
Microsoft OneNote: With Microschool note, you can use the “Yearbook-style” with tabs for pictures, reading, curriculum, etc. Each child can have a notebook and subnotebooks for each grade level. Sharing this is as simple as unlocking the year and sharing it with the evaluator.
Facebook fan page or photo album: Some parents make a daily photo to a Facebook fan page or photo album and then share it with their homeschool reviewer. All pictures are stamped with the day so progress can be reviewed chronologically. This approach is most helpful for annual homeschool reviews and not necessarily for building a college portfolio.
Trello: In Trello, families can build boards for individual years or subject areas, with lists for categories. They can then upload cards with names of projects, tests, or photos and include notes.
Typeform: Ask homeschool teachers to write 1-2 sentences about each session. You can integrate this Typeform with a google spreadsheet and include it in your portfolio to help track attendance and projects categorized by subjects.
Canva: It’s not necessary to make the homeschool portfolio look fancy, but Canva has some fun designs. Look at the report card and project templates to polish your homeschool portfolio.
When to Find Support
Just because you don’t need a 9-3 pm homeschool teacher doesn’t mean that you can’t reach out for extra support. It can be invaluable to have an expert weigh on any challenges your child is facing and how to support their learning and social development.
Here are some reasons that families might want to seek help:
To get an outside perspective to help evaluate how things are going
To evaluate whether their child might have a learning or behavioral challenge
For support with communication between parents and kids or between siblings
To help parents get aligned on homeschooling plans
For help identifying and applying to colleges & universities
To save time with homeschool paperwork, planning classes, hiring teachers, or other organizational aspects of homeschooling.
If you are concerned your child might have a learning difference, we strongly advise you to seek a diagnosis. Many learning challenges can be overcome with the right information and support, but knowledge is power. A diagnosis can also help give you access to special services.
Modulo provides one-on-one coaching to families looking for extra support with homeschooling and modular earning. Our team can help advise you and do some of the legwork or connect you with external homeschool coaches, parenting experts, child life specialists, and college advisors to help meet your family’s needs.
If you’ve gotten this far in the guide, it’s a parent who cares deeply about their child’s education - and that alone will set you up for success. Now it’s time to get into the nitty gritty of homeschooling, setting up a schedule, creating a budget, and getting the software and hardware to support modular learning.
At this point, things may still seem a bit abstract. (And in a certain way, we hope that stay that way. At its best, modular learning should be completely unique for every family. That’s its strength.) Still, we know some people just want a better sense of what their lives will be like if they embark on this path.
So we’re going to address one of the questions we get asked most often, “What’s a typical day look like?”
