Bright Future Early Learning Center

Please help us ban smoking at 1515 Clay Street. It’s unhealthy for everyone especially for the children who don’t even have a choice or a voice! There is a designated smoking area outside in the drop off area of the playground/​school and a SRO with people smoking on the side walk in front of the playground and school.

I can not speak of the quality of education that this pre-​school offers however as a neighbor of this Learning Center located within the State Building I am very concerned about the safety of the children that attend here. I live across from the school and witness active drug use and drug selling that occur right outside the school. Homeless people regularly use the stairwell that goes directly into the playground as a restroom. The janitorial staff clean up the area daily but it still stinks of urine and feces. I was informed by a State Building staff member that they have removed dirty drug needles from the playground. Homeless people crash there during the night and security rarely go that side of the building at night. The neighbors of the learning center have asked the State Building for over two years to address this public health issue with no action on their part. I respect that parents who have said the care and education is top notch and that very well may be true, but I wouldn’t allow my child to attend a school where s/​he might come in direct contact with dirty drug paraphernalia, feces and urine from the street. I hope I can eventually write an update to this review once they have addressed this issue. Fingers crossed!
I also learned through the Berkeley Parents Network that this Learning Center already has two substantiated citations involving health and safety of the children. You can find out more information on this link:

Our son started at Bright Future at 13 months and graduated from there to Kindergarten. We loved it and miss it.
Our son needed structure and the mix of open play within the structure of circle time, playground, table time, etc. really helped him. When he had a behavior problem, biting, they really helped him learn to control himself by observing closely to find the trigger and then helped him learn alternative behaviors. He was very well prepared for Kindergarten, already knowing how to behave, letters, colors, numbers, shapes, days of the week, most months with some early reading. They encouraged his love of building and bikes!
When we felt we needed parenting advice, the teachers, especially Ms. Linda and Ms. Crystal, would provide it if asked but were not pushy about it.
While evaluating daycare and preschools, note whether there are TVs around. The only television at Bright Future is in the mothers’ nursing room and only joins the classroom during the fundraising Parent’s Night Out for the quarterly pizza-​and-​a-​movie party for the kids.
Our whole family misses Bright Future.

Simply the BEST daycare/​preschool for families living or working around downtown Oakland. Why? Because…
1. Infants can start there at 3 months old and move through the program until the start of kindergarten.
2. They maintain a teacher: child ratio BETTER than the state requires. That means at any given moment the center has more teachers available than the minimum the state allows.
3. Babies (when awake) are constantly either held, talked to, READ to, played with, or given some kind of affectionate care.
4. The teachers have both official qualifications and serious talent with children. Every one of them could teach Mary Poppins a thing or three about kids.
5. Toddler and preschool teachers give serious help with potty training — if you have/​had potty trainers you know how important that is.
6. Play-​centered educational program that starts from early on and grows with the child. Kids are learning shapes by 1 year (not just circle/​square but hexagon, etc as well) and there are 4-​year-​olds in there reading books.
7. Real dedication to parent involvement (need to start us early so we’re ready for kindergarten too!). Parents can drop in just about any time to visit the kids, and there is a parent committee program for families to work on special projects and activities for the center.
8. At the end of the day, a teacher will discuss the day with the parent. You get an overview of how things went, any needs or issues that came up. And answers to any questions, great or small.
9. Field trips and outings for toddlers and up. «Real» field trips to Fairyland and MOCHA and such, as well as little trips out.
10. Much better food than I ever get for lunch. They use Revolution Foods so there’s no skimp on nutrition or taste. I wonder if I can pass for a student so I can indulge in chicken mole with brown rice and steamed corn, or vegetarian sloppy joe on a fresh baked bun with fresh butternut squash and yogurt…
Sure, I know that most centers claim to have great ratios and professionally developed educational programs blah blah blah, but this one is it. They really do what they claim and more. I could go on and on about Bright Future; you really just have to check it for yourself.
The one «con» is that there’s always a waiting list. Not a surprise. But it’s 100% worth waiting for. After one look at the program there’s no question about that. Best thing to do is schedule a preview appointment before baby is born so you can get on that list early.
Our son has been with this preschool since infancy. He’ll be there til kindergarten. And then we’ll miss Bright Future!

My 2 girls ages 3 and 5 were at Bright Future for over a year. It was a year filled with education, fun and enrichment. Bright Future staff is energetic and easy to approach. The director Laura was responsive and excited about the program. I would definitely recommend it to any parent looking for an engaging early childhood program.