Who We Are
Wildflower schools are teacher-led and offer beautiful, child-centered learning environments. Our model combines research-supported Montessori methods delivered in one-room, neighborhood-nested shop fronts with promising new ideas on parent engagement, identity-affirming learning, teacher empowerment, and data-driven instruction. Wildflower aspires to give all children and families the opportunity to choose high-quality, nurturing, and affordable learning environments.
Wildflower schools are microschools embedded in local communities.
Most schools serve 20-30 mixed-age students in one of the Montessori 3-year-wide age ranges. This small scale allows educators to see each child as an individual and each family as a partner and a resource. Schools blend into their community, reflecting the intentions of their founders to create learning environments that leverage local assets and meet local needs
Wildflower teachers are social entrepreneurs
Pairs of educators imagine, create, and lead Wildflower schools from the start, and the schools they create reflect their visions, passions, and experiences. We trust teachers to create exceptional educational experiences for children and families and solve problems as they arise. Teachers rise to the occasion: during COVID, teachers made all decisions on when to open and how to operate safely, and families gave them a Net Promoter Score (NPS) of 88. Because the two teacher leaders play both administrative and classroom leadership roles, they keep overhead low and earn above-average compensation - 30% higher than the average Montessori teacher, 75% higher than that of an average preschool teacher, and 25% higher than the average child care director. This, alongside radically increased autonomy and trust, contributes to annual teacher retention of 90% vs. ~70% in most early childhood programs and an NPS score 66 points above the national baseline for teachers.
Wildflower schools use authentic Montessori methods.
Children follow their interests in a carefully prepared environment supported by a well-trained Montessori guide. Each classroom serves a mixed-age group of children following Montessori conventions: 0-3-year-olds, 3-6, 6-9, 9-12, middle school, and high school. Research demonstrates that Montessori methods have long-term, positive academic and socio-emotional impacts on students across backgrounds.
Wildflower schools are accessible and sustainable.
To ensure that families across the socio-economic spectrum can choose to enroll their child in a Wildflower school, teachers use sliding scale tuition and a variety of public funding streams, including securing charters, school vouchers, and childcare subsidies. Schools aim to serve at least â…“ low-income and â…“ moderate-income families. Each new school costs ~$250,000 to start, financed by low-interest loans from the Sunlight Loan Fund CDFI and grants provided by the Wildflower Foundation and its partners. Schools break even in years two or three of operations while making loan payments and contributing 2-3% of revenue toward the shared costs of the network. To date, Sunlight has experienced no defaults on loans to schools, and most schools break even within 2-3 years.
Schools by Program Level
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An Intentionally and Increasingly Diverse Community
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42% of students live in households that earn low incomes, according to HUD
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60% of students identify as Black, Indigenous, and/or People of Color
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26% speak English as a second language
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50% of all schools and 75% of new schools are led by a Teacher Leader who identifies as Black, Indigenous or a Person of Color.
Each school reflects the strengths, needs, and diversity of the Teacher Leaders and communities that co-create it. In practice, this teacher-led design process results in schools partnering with affordable housing developments, community centers, and shelters for women and children. In language immersion programs and Indigenous language reclamation schools. In inclusive schools centering children with neurodiversity and functional diversity, schools focused on two-generation approaches and schools serving a majority of refugee and immigrant families.
Wildflower schools are spreading. Since the first school opened in 2014, the Wildflower Network has grown to include 71 schools in Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, North Carolina, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, Utah, Virginia and Washington D.C. We anticipate another 20+ schools opening in the next 18 months and have a robust pipeline of emerging school founders in earlier stages of the School Startup Journey. For 12-24 months, these emerging social entrepreneurs will design, plan, start, and lead their schools, with partnership from Wildflower, including business tools, coaching, community, and personalized, wrap-around supports.
