Step 5 spotlight: April Bender shares how a slow approach and supportive coach empowered her center

Meet April Bender, director and owner of Fremont Children’s Academy, a child care center in Fremont, Nebraska. April unexpectedly entered the child care profession and opened her center nearly two decades ago, and we’re thankful for her vulnerability about her process and experience with Step Up to Quality. Learn more about April’s journey to quality improvement.

What inspired you to become an early childhood professional?

My children had been going to an unlicensed in-home provider while I was working for Child Protective Services, and that wasn’t working out for a variety of reasons. So I was kind of in panic mode. We had tried a center but didn’t feel it was quite the right fit for our family. We tried nannies, alternating our work schedules… it just wasn’t working.

People told me I should open a center, but I wasn’t interested. Then, one day, I drove by what’s now our current building and saw a “for lease” sign. I gave them a call. It wasn’t a center prior to us being here, and the landlord wanted a $6,000 down payment that I didn’t have. I thought that call got it out of my system, but the Lord just kept pursuing, as the rest of the story goes.

I continued to work my other job to have funds to open the center and buy all the supplies. I watched a few kids at my own home for friends and family to earn extra money, and I was able to get a loan. Other than that, I did not have experience in early childhood. So I started up my center while also starting in the field. It’s been 19 years since.

What is your child care philosophy?

We provide children with educational experiences to empower them to be successful members of our community. As a mom, I felt like there wasn’t often an educational component to child care. Children are in our care for many hours each day, and that’s an opportunity to teach them. I’m very passionate about making it an experience where they can learn as much as possible while they’re little sponges. I want to fuel their passion for learning from a young age.

How did you learn about Step Up to Quality? Why did you decide to join?

I learned about Step Up to Quality through a couple trainings I had attended. At the time, it seemed incredibly overwhelming, so I was super resistant and pretty adamant about not doing it. Then, I was sitting in church, and the pastor said, “If you’re trying to figure out what it is you’re supposed to be doing, then look at something that’s come up multiple times that you’ve said ‘no’ to.” So I decided to finally look into it and open my heart to the opportunity.

We signed up, and I just wanted to get it all done in a hurry. I thought I could rush through and get it over with. That was not the case. I learned to take it one step at a time and slow down the process. Slowing down relieved a lot of stress, because I was not only doing my job but traveling to different towns to complete trainings. Rushing wasn’t helpful for me or my team.

How does it feel to be rated at a Step 5 level?

It is such a good feeling. It felt so out of reach. The odds were against us in so many ways — we joined during the pandemic, then there was the great hiring crisis, the great resignation, and it just seemed like we were taking one step forward and four steps back. So to reach a Step 5, knowing that we put our hat on and stuck to it, is really, really gratifying.

Did you have a Step Up to Quality coach? How was the experience?

Our coach Dee Mueller was fantastic. We definitely couldn’t have continued the path without her.

I didn’t think that she was going to come in and try to change things, but I was initially worried about shame or embarrassment around not doing things right. It was the polar opposite. She was so supportive, and she gave such positive feedback about all of the things that we were already doing. That was very encouraging to keep moving forward and not feel like we were starting from square one.

We did have a lot of positive things already going on, and for her to point those out, especially to the teachers, helped us see things in a different light and gave us momentum. We built up our strengths even more and could work on some of our weaknesses. Her support was more of an offer than any sort of demand. She didn’t make us do anything. She did her homework, met with our teachers and provided resources for us.

She met us where we were and was so supportive, never once making me feel like we were a lost cause. Now, I’m a huge advocate for coaching.

In what ways has Step Up to Quality helped boost the quality of your child care practices? What have you learned and implemented?

What led me to start our center was to provide a high-quality environment, and a lot of that is based on relationships. What our teachers are doing behind the scenes and how they’re interacting with students can’t be photographed or fully communicated. So when I learned about the CLASS observation tool as an option for Step Up to Quality, it really aligned with my passion and philosophy for teaching and for interacting in our everyday environment. It was encouraging to me that our mindset aligned with what the State and Step Up to Quality saw as important.

From an administrative perspective, having a system and a checklist to follow was right up my alley. There are reasons why certain things should be on the walls, why things are labeled, why children’s artwork should be at their level, why we post a written schedule, etc.

All of this hard work is still a daily work in progress, but to be evaluated and rated to show that we’re doing something well is invaluable. There aren’t a lot of other ways to measure quality beyond what a building may look like or what a negative news story may say. Achieving a Step 5 made our teachers feel even more supported and recognized for their work, because this industry doesn’t get a lot of recognition.

What words of encouragement do you have for providers who are considering joining Step Up to Quality or are still working through the steps?

I had read these provider interview blogs when I was at a Step 2 for quite awhile, and it was easy to assume that others had no problems achieving a Step 5. It’s been a challenging experience getting to where we are, and that’s normal. It’s not an easy process for a reason.

When I started, I wish I would have known to look at the bigger picture, make a game plan and be strategic. And to know that taking a few steps back doesn’t mean you’re heading in the wrong direction. Make a map of where your points need to be earned and when and in what order you want to focus on things. If you go into the process just winging it, you’re probably going to do more work than necessary.

I also recommend being honest with your coach. There were coaching sessions where we didn’t even talk about Step Up to Quality directly. We’d discuss what it’s like to be a leader and how it feels to be discouraged or lonely in this position. If I wouldn’t have been honest with her, I may not have been able to continue through the steps. Knowing that she was there for me as a person and a leader, while also helping me improve quality, was very helpful. She did an excellent job of caring for my heart, not just helping me achieve a certain status in the Quality Rating System. Be willing to be vulnerable and honest with your coach when you need that. They’re real people too, and they’ve been in your shoes.

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