INSIGHTS FROM FRANCHISEES IN THE CHILDREN’S SERVICES INDUSTRY

By Indi Nandhra, Mathnasium Franchisee, IFA Franchisee Forum Second Vice Chair, IFA Board Member

Warning: If your passion leads you to children’s service brands where diversity, equity and inclusion are a primary focus within the brand offerings then read on. If this is not your passion then read anyway: you may develop that passion just as I did back in 2020!

“In the perfect world I would be understood. I would get the desired responses to each one of my behaviors and demands. And my demands are not extreme but rather align with who I am. Just like the person next to me, I am excited and motivated to learn and grow. However, with one extreme difference! The difference is the gift of being ME where I am clearly not like everyone else!” In my 20+ years as a franchisee of children’s services, I have witnessed this dialogue in both words and behaviors.

Our world today is in support of diversity, equity and inclusion across so many gametes of life, where it rightfully allows for the acceptance of everyone. In this article, I would like to steer the focus to diversity, equity and inclusion to student learning styles and dive into the importance of not providing a cookie cutter learning environment but rather a personalized, result driven opportunity to position a student for success.

I’m pleased to say that there are many franchise brands that successfully support strong learning opportunities to its clientele of young learners. I have had the professional pleasure of being a franchisee of two of them. While I have firsthand experiences owning and operating these brands, I sought out other franchisees to share their perspectives.

I reached out to Cinnamon Snipes, a franchisee of The Goddard School in Woodstock, GA. She illustrated how this brand distinctively supports the diverse learning skills of each of its students by providing the F.L.E.X STEM program. A program that provides an environment promoting successful outcomes for children as young as six weeks to five years (the most impressionable years of a child’s life)!

Cinnamon further shared that early childhood development is about more than just reaching milestones. It’s about allowing a child’s interest to influence their learning experiences by balancing academic, mental, physical and social-emotional growth. The continued support for diversity is apparent in the framework where each child has the freedom to learn beyond a traditional lesson. Teachers incorporate organic, real-life experiences that encourage the student to self-navigate and take part in valuable teachable moments. The functional diverse learning environment is staged with activities that are not driven by the instructors but by the student.

Her passion for the opportunities that the brand offered spoke volumes! She is making a positive lifelong impact on her students. “Educating future generations in an environment that addresses their diverse individual learning needs is instrumental to their success! These are the children who are going to change the world in 20 to 30 years.”

My next conversation was with Anup Wassan, a multi-unit owner of Mathnasium Learning Center in GA. I asked how his brand supported diverse, inclusive and equitable student learning styles.

Anup shared that every aspect of a student’s education consists of requirements and standards that must be met. The Mathnasium program meets each student where they are and does not focus on standards.

Every student is capable of excellence and being extraordinary where they are. The program is somewhat reverse engineered. Supporting the diverse learning ability of each of our students is the key to our success.

Without hesitation he dove into sharing how the Mathnasium reward system is inclusive of every student. Multiple opportunities of success are presented to each student where cards are filled with stars and are then used to purchase rewards from the prize cabinet. The reward system was built to ensure inclusion of each student’s math ability which is key to building the confidence that students sometimes lack to succeed.

Finally, Anup used a math problem to illustrate how Mathnasium provides equitable student learning opportunities by providing an equal playing field that ensures successful outcomes. Consider a fence that is six feet tall and three students that are 3 feet, 4 feet and 5 feet tall. If each student is given a 2-foot bucket to stand on and is asked to look over this fence, with a little bit of math it is obvious that the 3-foot-tall student will not succeed. At Mathnasium the 3-foot-tall student would not be given a 2-foot bucket!

It is hopeful to know that our future leaders are being given the opportunity to succeed! Franchisees Cinnamon and Anup found brands that align with their passions. I hope you have been inspired to take a deeper dive into children’s service brands that provide diverse, inclusive and equitable learning programs. There are so many franchising opportunities out there for franchisees looking to make a difference.

Indi Nandhra is a Mathnasium franchisee and fractional consultant. She is on the IFA Board of Directors and second vice chair of the Franchisee Forum.