Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan made headlines in 2015 when they announced the founding of two Bay Area schools, The Primary School in East Palo Alto and AltSchool in San Francisco. The couple had high hopes for these schools, which aimed to provide high-quality education to underserved communities and revolutionize the way children learn.
However, just a few years after their founding, both schools are now closing their doors. The Primary School will close at the end of the current school year, while AltSchool has already shut down all of its physical campuses and transitioned to a software platform for private and charter schools.
The closure of these schools raises questions about the challenges of starting and sustaining innovative educational models, as well as the role of philanthropy in education reform.
The Primary School, which was founded in 2016, sought to provide a holistic approach to education by addressing not only academic needs but also health and social services for students and their families. The school served a predominantly low-income and minority population in East Palo Alto, an area with high rates of poverty and limited access to quality education.
Despite its ambitious goals, The Primary School faced financial and operational challenges that ultimately led to its closure. In a statement announcing the decision, the school cited difficulties in securing sustainable funding and maintaining a diverse student body as key factors in the decision to shut down.
AltSchool, on the other hand, was a network of private micro-schools founded in 2013 that aimed to personalize learning for each student through technology and individualized lesson plans. The school received significant funding from Silicon Valley investors, including Mark Zuckerberg, and quickly expanded to multiple campuses in the Bay Area and New York City.
However, AltSchool struggled to scale its model and faced criticism for its high tuition costs and lack of diversity among its student body. In 2018, the company announced it would pivot to a software platform called Altitude Learning, which offers its technology and curriculum to other schools.
The closures of The Primary School and AltSchool highlight the challenges of implementing innovative educational models in a traditional system that is resistant to change. While philanthropic efforts like those of the Zuckerbergs can bring much-needed resources and attention to underserved communities, they are not a panacea for the complex issues facing the education system.
Moving forward, it will be important for education reformers to learn from the experiences of The Primary School and AltSchool and to prioritize sustainability, diversity, and equity in their efforts to improve educational outcomes for all students. Only by working together with educators, parents, and policymakers can we create lasting change in our schools and communities.
