One of the most fraught decisions that a parent has to make is the decision of where and when to place your child in child care. Will this place keep my child safe? Will this place support my child’s learning, emotional, social, and intellectual growth? Can we afford it? These are just the first questions that anxious parents ask before they send their young children off to a school.
The Stepping Stone Schools in Austin, Texas, have found ways to provide children with caring, developmentally attuned programs based on the latest research in early childhood education. Their extensive growth and stellar reputation in the community are a testament to the success they’ve had in this challenging yet rewarding work.
Rhonda and Bill Paver established Stepping Stone School over 35 years ago, after the family moved to Austin for Bill’s new job at the University of Texas. With three children under 5 years old, finding quality childcare was a pressing need. “While searching for care for her own children in order to return to work as a teacher, Rhonda found a distinct lack of high quality care with an educational underpinning for an affordable rate,” says Susan Watson, Vice President of Stepping Stone and Director of Operations.
Rather than seeing this lack of available childcare in the Austin area as a problem, they took it as an opportunity. Both of the Pavers have advanced degrees in education. Rhonda has a masters in Early Childhood Development from UT, and Bill has a Ph.D in Higher Ed. from University of Washington and served 25 years as Assistant Dean of Graduate Studies and Associate Director of Admissions. “Their combined education and experience are an invaluable resource and asset that no other privately-owned early care and education provider in the nation has,” says Watson.
So rather than enrolling their children at a daycare they didn’t approve of, notes Watson, “they decided to open their own early care and education school in one side of the house they were renting.” Their bold move has allowed the Pavers to create a rich and dynamic early care and education program. They keep abreast with the most recent research on education and child development, and regularly re-design their curriculum in order to apply newly-established best practices.
Their success is evident from the growth of their programs. “Stepping Stone School has become the largest privately owned early care and education provider in Central Texas,” states Watson. And they consistently have ratings as one of the finest such establishments in the region. “Stepping Stone School has been voted ‘Best in Child Care’ by the readers of the Austin Family magazine for 17 years.”
So what is it that has made Stepping Stone such a center of excellence for so many years? The central factor is the hands-on involvement of the Pavers, working to ensure that every aspect of each child-care center meets their high demands for excellence. “Their vision is to provide the highest quality early care and education based on the latest research and best practices on how children learn, grow and develop,” says Watson. But this is not applied in a mechanical way. Rather, all the research and every change to the curriculum is engaged to honor and encourage the potential in every child, suggests Watson.
This dedication is evident from the first steps that one takes into one of the Stepping Stone School’s campuses. Rather than a simple classroom environment, Stepping Stone takes an approach more similar to that of a children’s museum, making them educational experiences that children don’t want to leave. “We designed our Stepping Stone School campuses with this concept in mind,” says Watson. “From museum quality displays featuring 3-D fossil replicas, to the entire solar system lighting up an atrium, your child’s imagination will soar the minute they step through the door.”
The spaces in each Stepping Stone campus are meant to stimulate the whole child, Watson suggests, appealing to all the senses and supporting intellectual, physical, emotional and social growth. “Unlike our competitors who are required to construct cookie-cutter buildings proscribed by the franchise company or international corporation,” says Watson, “every detail of our campuses are purposefully designed to engage your child and propel them in their learning experience.”
While different institutions cover different aspects, Stepping Stone School’s most recently constructed campuses have a variety of outstanding features, including ecologically efficient buildings, warm colors and diverse, natural elements for texture, and an “open” kitchen. Moreover, the school emphasizes light in beautiful ways, from spacious atriums for gatherings to LED color-changing lights to alter mood.
Stepping Stone is just as attentive to the quality of their outdoor spaces. “Many of our outdoor playgrounds are shaded by large heritage oak trees and there is always plenty of room to run, jump and play,” says Watson. Exercise and outdoor play have many benefits supported by research. “Experts know that children who regularly play outdoors tend to be fitter and leaner, develop stronger immune systems, play more creatively, have more active imaginations, report lower stress levels, and demonstrate greater respect for themselves and others,” notes Watson.
But Stepping Stone also wants children to experience genuine adventure. “Children need opportunities to do things that are exciting and adventurous,” suggests Watson, “By providing open-ended components we challenge children’s physical, social and cognitive abilities by encouraging them to create their own challenge or obstacle course and engage in increasingly more difficult and complex activities.”
Ultimately, though, the bedrock of Stepping Stone is the curriculum. Not only does the School provide a rich curriculum based in established research, but they are always working to improve. “Stepping Stone School is consistently upgrading and changing our curriculum to ensure we are always on the cutting edge of providing the most progressive learning possible,” says Watson. The current curriculum is called Platinum Learning for Life. This curriculum involves a variety of rotating themes, emphasis on S.T.E.A.M. (Science, Tech, Engineering, Arts, Math), language instruction including ASL, music, fitness, and the Communities of Character curriculum which emphasize the nurture of community through gratitude, empathy and solidarity.
And even the most content-heavy of these areas of the curriculum are handled with playfulness. “Stepping Stone School’s curriculum incorporates activities, materials and lessons that introduce those concepts to our students, from infants through school age.” Whether in art, science, languages, or community building, Stepping Stone uses creative, developmentally appropriate approaches.
One of the areas in which Stepping Stone is especially forward-thinking is technology. “Not only does each classroom have at least one computer with specially selected age-appropriate educational software,” says Watson, “but many of our campuses have Global Learning Centers which act as hubs of learning for all age groups with multiple computers and other learning technology.”
Among the approaches used are ABCmouse.com, a computer-based program with learning games across many areas, Hatch’s iStartSmart: All-In-One Computer Learning Center, and TeachSmart Learning System. TeachSmart uses an interactive whiteboard through developmental phases. “TeachSmart® is designed for cognitive and social/emotional development in pre-literacy, math, science and social studies,” notes Watson, and the system can be used individually, in a group, or together as a class.
Stepping Stone School is clearly an exceptional institution. With it’s cutting edge approaches, research-based curriculum, and carefully crafted, exploratory spaces, it is difficult to imagine an environment better suited to children’s development. Offering care for children 6 weeks to 13 years, Stepping Stone School offers an environment meant to bring out the full potential of every child.
By David Boegaard
