Pioneering New Approaches
Big Wonder seeks to spur much needed development and innovation in Early Childhood Education.
I founded Big Wonder Child Care to create an innovative child care center to learn how magical and transformative early childhood education can be. We believe early childhood education is the most important education anyone can ever receive, and children are the most precious treasure within any community. As a non-profit, we are developing innovative learning frameworks and policies to nurture exceptional classrooms, professional teachers, and greater accessibility to families.
We develop and model innovative methods to find sustainable solutions to improve early childhood education. Early childhood education is in crisis. Families, teachers, and children suffer from inaccessibility, poor care, and poor wages. Focusing on the problems and pointing fingers will not spark innovation and change. We can transform early childhood education by spearheading equitable policies and frameworks that are iterative, scalable, and freely shared.
At the core of Big Wonder is the belief in equity. To further equity in early childhood, Big Wonder honors the unique rights of children, teachers, and families:
1. The Rights of Children
To respect children's rights, Big Wonder provides an inquiry-driven and collaborative classroom community. Big Wonder believes children have the right to feel loved and respected, to explore life's big questions through play, and to develop a positive sense of self and a positive regard for others, whether the same or different.
Curriculum and learning frameworks on anti-racism, mindfulness, and virtues-based pedagogy are sparse. Through action research, teachers at Big Wonder engage in cycles of design, action, and reflection to learn how we can better nurture race consciousness and mindfulness education in early childhood. Collaborative feedback across childcare centers and with teachers and children is incorporated into subsequent iterations to improve approaches and frameworks.
2. The Rights of Teachers
Big Wonder believes teachers have the right to livable wages, comprehensive benefits, and a healthy, rewarding work environment. Too often, early childhood educators leave work they love due to inadequate pay and lack of benefits. Nationally, the average wage is $12 per hour, explaining why a quarter of the workforce leaves each year (1). Poor wages result from the industry's razor-thin margins-1% nationally (2). Big Wonder provides a living wage, paid time off, professional development, and a rewarding, healthy work environment. This is possible in part because Big Wonder is a non-profit with financial policies that remove steep wage gaps between administrators and teachers.
3. The Rights of Families
High-quality child care is essential for gender equity and wealth mobility. Big Wonder views trustworthy, accessible child care as necessary for workers. The cost of child care has increased by 41% over the past few years (3). Big Wonder strives to provide sliding-scale fees to be accessible to families of diverse incomes. To provide scholarships and sliding-scale tuition, Big Wonder is looking to secure innovative funding streams beyond family tuition.
Founding a Dream
Opening Big Wonder has been my dream for over a decade. I believe by empowering children, we empower ourselves. Helping children express themselves with joy and freedom reminds us of what we have often forgotten: to lean into the unknown with curiosity and wonder. This is the magic of early childhood education; it’s the collective evolution of everyone participating.
As a school engaged in research and development while honoring the voices of all stakeholders, we are reimagining what is possible in early childhood.
Work Cited
Shoenthal, Amy. “This Founder Plans To Solve The Childcare Crisis By Putting A Daycare On Every Block.” Forbes, Apr 12, 2022. https://www.forbes.com/sites/amyshoenthal/2022/04/12/this-founder-plans-to-solve-the-childcare-crisis-by-putting-a-daycare-on-every-block/?sh=4f2e679e4de5. Accessed 30 June 2023
United States, Congress, U.S. Department of the Treasury. “The Economics of Child Care Supply in the United States, 2021, pp. 1–29.
Their, Jane. “The cost of childcare has risen by 41% during the pandemic with families spending up to 20% of their salaries.” Fortune, Jan. 28, 2022 https://fortune.com/2022/01/28/the-cost-of-child-care-in-the-us-is-rising/. Accessed 30 June 2023
