Primer Microschools Design

Primer is revolutionizing K-12 education through innovative microschools. This case study examines design options for PrimerOS – software that guides teachers through the entire microschool creation journey, from leasing and recruitment to personalized academic planning. The following design proposals enhance the recruitment phase for PrimerOS teachers by leveraging CRM best practices and AI-powered user profile analytics.

 
 

A re-creation of the Primer Student dashboard to highlight understanding of Primer design principles.

 

 

Research Phase

I began by examining existing education management systems and CRMs to understand common patterns and pain points. Through competitive analysis of EdTech platforms, recruiting tools, and student information systems, I identified key opportunities for improvement:

  1. Helping teachers quickly visualize classroom capacity and enrollment status of students

  2. Moving students through application stages can be cumbersome and confusing

  3. Creating clear student profiles that showed standardization and quick readability

  4. Guide Microschool creators through a clear, step-by-step onboarding flow end-to-end, from lease-to-classroom management

Primer’s design language is clear: friendly, trustworthy, and clean. It is user-centric and fresh; the perfect summation for an industry disruptor like Primer.

 
 
 

SOlution

The final design delivers a comprehensive classroom management system with:

 
 

  • Clear Capacity Visualization:

    • Progress bar showing filled/available spots

    • Percentage badge highlighting enrollment status

    • Color-coded status indicators with precise counts

  • Intuitive Application Management:

    • Column-based organization by application status

    • Standardized student cards with consistent information

    • Visible action buttons for moving students between statuses

  • Comprehensive Student Profiles:

    • Structured academic and social information

    • Subject/interest tagging system

    • Last activity timestamps for tracking engagement

  • Seamless View Switching:

    • Clear toggle between application processing and roster views

    • Consistent information presentation across views

    • Appropriate contextual actions for each view

  • Additional Student Assessment:

    • Reading level tracking for individual students

    • Progress visualization across curriculum standards

    • Subject-specific assessment tabs

 
 

This solution empowers teachers to efficiently manage classroom enrollment while maintaining rich student profiles that capture both academic abilities and social characteristics, ultimately creating a more effective learning environment.

See below for full design exploration: