Tommy's story answers what it looks like to center the child – when energy spent on control becomes available for curiosity. But it raises the question: how do two people sustain that kind of work — constant observation, flexibility, release of control — without burning out?

At the start of this school year, Leah and Kirsti, Teacher Leaders at Spicebush Montessori, a teacher-led Wildflower school in Glen Mills, Pennsylvania, were facing a decision no educator wants to make. Tommy, a neurodivergent four-year-old, was pushing, scratching, biting, hitting, and throwing things at students and teachers every single day. Staff took turns helping him regulate, one exhausted teacher handing off to the other, all day long. An expulsion conversation was on

This year, our 12th and largest cohort brings 14 new Wildflower schools—from our first middle school in D.C. to a rural public charter in Colorado, a bilingual school in Puerto Rico, and our first in Arkansas and Tennessee. Together, they join 77 schools across 20 states, Puerto Rico, and D.C., reimagining what school can be.

Wildflower NY Charter School is transforming learning in the Bronx, with rising NWEA math & reading scores and a joyful community!

Stories of 11 Teacher Leaders whose skills, passions, and life experiences sparked the creation of beautiful, community-embedded schools.

In the following pages, you will read the stories of 21 Teacher Leaders whose skills, passions, and life experiences sparked the creation of beautiful, community-embedded schools.

This past year’s group includes Wildflower’s first schools in San Francisco and Philadelphia, the first Indigenous language reclamation school created in partnership with a tribal community, the first school linked to a Montessori teacher training program, and the first school set in a community-based special education services provider.

For the first time, Wildflower is celebrating the achievements of these education entrepreneurs throughout their opening year with the inaugural edition of Wildflower Seedlings – a special publication highlighting the first year of our newest class of Wildflower schools.