What is “pod learning” that I keep reading about and is it right for your child?

You probably heard it mentioned by another parent. Or maybe read an article about the waiting list for Manhattan’s most exclusive pods. With the radical changes the pandemic has thrust upon the educational community, everyone seems to be talking about pod learning. 

So what exactly is pod learning and how it can it help your child? In my experience, one-on-one tutoring is the single most effective way to harness a student’s abilities, learn a new skill or master a key subject. The prohibitive cost and non-feasibility of having every student privately tutored makes one-on-one instruction on a large scale a non-starter.

According to class size data, the ideal class size is not the 38 kids in a class some public schools. This large size group is simply too unwieldy to maintain order  and the kids struggling the most can get lost in the shuffle. However, the typical class size for many private schools is also not ideal. With a class size of 10-15, it’s harder for struggling students to ask for help without being singled out by their peers.

So what is the ideal class size for students to thrive academically? 2-4 students make up  learning ‘pod’. The name derives from the idea of peas in a pod. 2-4 young kids all together in their own pod. But can it work? I’ll answer that in next month’s blog post. Stay tuned!