Each week, millions of families in the United States drop their children off at a daycare center, and that includes teachers too.¶
In Nashville, one daycare provider is working to ensure those teachers are able to stay in the classroom by offering services just steps away. Little Wonders Early Learning Center was founded in 2020 by public charter school leaders to address teacher retention caused by unreliable or unaffordable childcare services.¶
The organization currently operates three sites at Nashville public charter schools: STEM Prep Academy, Nashville Prep Charter School, and Aventura Community School. Teachers who work there or at nearby schools can drop their young children off and remain close to or even in the same building as their kids.¶
By Teachers For Teachers
Dr. Colleen Melchiorre became CEO of Little Wonders 18 months ago. She said her daycare and others like it allow teachers to keep working in the profession they love, which in turn leads to better academic outcomes.¶
STEM Prep Academy, for instance, received a B in the Tennessee Department of Education’s (TDOE) most recent School Letter Grades and a Tennessee Value-Added Assessment System (TVAAS) Level 5 distinction for student growth, the highest there is.¶
What Else Makes Little Wonders Different
Despite its importance, Melchiorre noted that early childhood education remains significantly underfunded and under-resourced. Little Wonders’s approach differs from other daycare providers in a few ways, and possibly the most important of those is teacher pay.¶
“We're really trying to upend this idea that early learning education professionals need to make $14 an hour,” Melchiorre said. “That’s just not feasible. Nobody can live on that. And also, what they're doing is really, really important.”¶
Little Wonders now has a total capacity of 170-180 seats and is serving 125 children right now. Approximately 60 percent of its enrollees are children of educators. The Aventura location is also bilingual to serve the mix of Spanish- and English-speaking families in the area.¶
“We try to make it so that our sites that are in schools are mirroring the schools that they're in so they fit into the communities that they're in,” Melchiorre said. “Aventura Community School is an elementary school that is bilingual, and so our Little Wonders (location) there is full of Spanish and English speakers.”¶
Melchiorre said that Little Wonders also goes above and beyond what the state’s Department of Human Services (DHS) staff-to-child ratios require and remains overstaffed by design to limit burnout. She says it’s also imperative that educators feel supported.¶
“How do people feel in the building?” Melchiorre said. “That is important, and then the model of (we are) serving. That’s innovative at Little Wonders.”¶
Learning Through Wonder, Curiosity, and Belonging
Little Wonders’ faculty view its work as essential for molding developing brains through daily activities. Teachers’ lesson plans intentionally align with the American Academy of Pediatrics’ standards to ensure children’s brains develop quickly enough.¶
“90 percent of their brain development happens in the first five years,” Melchiorre said. “It’s really critical. We literally are molding their brains every minute, every second.”¶
Big Savings for Teachers
Public charter school teachers at Aventura Community School, East End Prep, KIPP Public Schools, LEAD Public Schools, Nashville Classical Charter School, Purpose Prep Academy, RePublic Schools, STEM Preparatory School, and Valor Collegiate Academies all receive priority enrollment options at Little Wonders along with 11-month payment plans and discounted childcare.¶
Melchiorre says the option saves teachers $3,500 to $4,500 per year.¶
“It was like a game changer for them, and so important for them to have,” Melchiorre said. “Many of them would not have stayed in the classroom if it weren’t for us.”¶
