The K-12 School Locator App for Parents
K-12 education options, in both the public and private school spheres, have exploded in recent years. Many parents are unaware of this explosion, especially with the many non-traditional options now available for their children. And parents who are aware often find it difficult to search, navigate, and understand how each option differs. This is especially true for families who are relocating, who have children just starting school, or who do not have extensive networks with other parents in their community.
In the Spring of 2026, K-12 Blended Learning Solutions is launching a free School Locator App to help parents easily navigate and explore the long list of options currently available for their children. Since every family faces a different set of circumstances, this App will help parents find the education option that best fits their unique situation.
Some parents, for example, wish to be more involved in their children’s education, but the level of involvement often differs from family to family. In addition, cost, faith, location, special services, program focus, academic rigor, and more — all are factors to consider when choosing a school. Since many states now have School Choice programs to help with private school tuition, knowing which private options accept these funds is also important.
Every child within every family is also different. They have different learning styles. They have different special interests, and many have difficulty learning. In some cases, private tutors or coaches are needed, so a section on this app has also been included for them. Our goal is for this new Locator App to help parents easily navigate all of the choices, both traditional and non-traditional, that are now available for their children.
How it Works!
This new app begins with a search “location” and the basic “Public-Charter-Private” categories. However, within each of these basic categories, parents will then take another step and choose between four additional options based on their preferred level of parental involvement (below).
In the next step, and to provide an example of how rapidly the private school sphere has expanded, a parent who previously chose to search Private / Hybrid Schools can further expand their search into four additional categories (below).
In addition, parents have the option to further divide/filter all of these private hybrid categories. Additional filters are based on cost, religious preference, special school features (accredited, accepts ESA funds for tuition, etc.), special services (special education, meals provided, transportation provided, etc.), an extensive list of program focus options, a long list of student interest options, and any national association/network memberships.
Private Hybrid School Options
• Homeschool Co-ops (Organized groups of families who meet regularly together for shared classes and activities commonly taught and led by parents.)
• Hybrid Microschools (When a group of families with about 5-20 children share the cost of a private teacher and meet together in one location a few days each week. Microschools often network with other microschools.
• Hybrid Homeschools (Students attend a few selected courses on campus part of the week with professional teachers and are homeschooled the rest of the week in courses not directed by classroom teachers.)
• College-Simulated Schools (Accredited K-12 schools that reflect a college 2-day/3-day schedule and experience. Professional teachers lead classes on campus and assign homework to support that class for the days when students are off campus. In many ways, these schools are like traditional private schools, but they provide an early college training experience designed to help students increase their independent learning skills.)
Our Continued Mission
As an organization, our mission continues to focus on increasing parental involvement in education. While this new app allows us to help ALL students, it also allows us to inform parents nationwide of the increasingly large number of options where they can be more involved in their children’s education, and to varying degrees. This includes College-Simulated Schools, the option that is our history and experience and that served as the basis for this app’s design.
When we started the GPA Project, we recognized that parents needed a better way to understand how our pilot hybrid school differed from traditional schools. That’s why we used a different method to categorize and explain school options when distributing GPA Project materials to parents. That method has worked well for over 30 years.
This app is also our way of helping new, emerging school options. We’ve been there, and we understand the challenges faced by new models and start-up schools. Not only is this app free to all users, but it is designed to be a free platform where all school options, both traditional and nontraditional, can showcase their services to others.