What Our Centers Are Saying

“Katie’s Little Angels is the talk of West Dallas. People see me at the store, gas stations and tell me they heard how beautiful the center is and how good we are with the children. They said they follow us on Facebook and to keep up the good work. It’s a wonderful feeling to hear people talking about my center. I could not have done it without Educational First Steps. You all are a True blessing to the children, parents, teachers and myself. The teachers seem to be more motivated to teach with great attitudes. I am honored to be a part of your program. Thanks for not giving up on us. We love you all from all of us a Katie’s Little Angels.”- Michelle Brown, Director of Katie’s Little Angels

When the day care center that cared for Karen Nichols’ daughter closed she decided to open her own preschool.  She had always wanted to own her own business so she called licensing and told them she wanted to get her daycare up and running in 30 days.  Karen didn’t have any background in education or child development, but she told people that she was going to make this a reality.  And she did, within 60 days of her call to licensing, Creative Steps Academy was open for business and caring for 25 children.  After an economic downturn in 2011 and a shift in neighborhood demographics, Karen’s center was in trouble.  This was the beginning of her partnership with Educational First Steps.  “It was a hard time.  Without EFS we couldn’t pay for materials, but Samantha Moya, our EFS Specialist, kept encouraging us – telling me over and over “you can do this.”  We started getting professional development training and materials and it motivated our teachers.  You could see a difference.  They were excited, they started really holding each other accountable and they were communicating better with each other, the parents and the children.  It was always a dream of mine to become accredited.  I thought it would take years, but with EFS it took 18 months until we were accredited and we haven’t looked back! Today we are enrolled to capacity and have a waiting list.  When you can tell people you are accredited even if they don’t know what it means they know it’s something good and they want it for their child. Educational First Steps is a big part of who we are and why we made it. -Karen Nichols, Director of Creative Steps Academy