Ratings, services and a phone number for every preschool or day care in Alabama.
What a featured listing costs · from $29 a month
Families in Birmingham have been bringing children to La Petite Academy on Valleydale Road since September 1981. The school runs daycare and preschool for ages 6 weeks to…
Helena's School for Amazing Kids cares for children from infancy through pre-K as part of a four-school group that has operated for over 40 years. Days follow the…
The Academy for Learning and Character Development, known as ALCD, provides safe, affordable child care for preschool and school age children in Huntsville. Its original curriculum was written…
Heritage Preschool of Pelham is a faith-based preschool and child care center at 450 Huntley Parkway, one of several campuses around the Birmingham area. It describes 25 years…
Families off County Line Road near Watterson Way in Madison County can enroll infants, toddlers and pre-K children at O2B Kids Madison. The preschool runs on a play…
Heritage Preschool of Trussville is a faith-based preschool and child care center, one of several Heritage campuses that include Homewood, Pelham and Ross Bridge, with 25 years of…
Every listing begins as a public Google Maps record for a preschool, day care or child care center in Alabama.
Schools with at least one review and a record updated in the past year stay. Duplicates are merged.
Ages, Pre-K, subsidies, meals and hours come from the school's own words, not from guesses.
When a school does not say, its page shows no information yet, never a yes or a no we made up.
Every program here started as a Google Maps record filed somewhere in Alabama under Preschool, Day care center, Child care agency, Montessori school or Family day care service. We kept the ones that are open, have at least one parent review and were updated in the past year, merged duplicates, and removed the few that turned out to be something else, such as a pet boarding kennel or an adult day program.
Then we read each school's own website for the things parents ask about first: the ages it takes, whether it runs a Pre-K class, whether it accepts child care subsidies, whether it lists tuition or keeps a waitlist, meals, early drop-off and late pickup, summer camp and any accreditation. A program is marked yes only when the school says so in its own words. Many schools say little online, so a blank on a listing means the school has not told us yet, and a call will answer it.
Owners can claim a listing to correct details or add photos. A person checks every claim. Published by Little Compass Guides.
Start with your child's age, because it rules out more programs than anything else. Some Alabama day care centers take babies and keep them through pre-K. Others start at two or three and run half-day preschool classes. Each listing here shows whether a program takes infants and toddlers and whether it runs a pre-K class, so you can cut the list down before you make a single call.
The Alabama Department of Human Resources (DHR) licenses and monitors child care centers and homes. Centers in Alabama operate either licensed or license-exempt. Many church preschools use the exemption. Programs can also join Alabama Quality STARS, the state's voluntary rating system, where 1-STAR means a program meets licensing standards and 5-STAR is the top level. Taking part is optional, so treat a rating as one clue among several. You can look up any provider, with its license or exemption, its last inspection and its history of violations, in DHR's Statewide Day Care Directory at apps.dhr.alabama.gov/daycare/daycare_search.
If your family needs help with the cost, DHR's subsidized child care program helps low- and moderate-income families who work, study or train. Families apply through the Child Care Management Agency for their county, and the program has to be registered for the subsidy to work there. Look for "Accepts child care subsidies" on a listing, and confirm it on the phone before you enroll. If your child will be 4 on September 1, look at First Class Pre-K, the state's voluntary pre-K program, which charges no registration fee.
Most schools say little about tuition online, so ask for the weekly or monthly rate and what it includes. Ask whether there is a waitlist and how long it usually runs. Ask about hours, and whether early drop-off or late pickup costs extra. Ask whether meals and snacks are provided or packed from home, and what the day looks like: play-based, Montessori, Reggio Emilia or a set curriculum. If summer matters, ask whether the school runs a summer camp for current families.
Tour two or three schools in the same week so the comparison is fresh. Watch how teachers talk to the children, how clean the rooms are and whether what you see matches what you were told on the phone. A short list built from this directory, a phone call and one visit each will tell you more than any rating on its own.
Every program starts as a public Google Maps record filed in Alabama under Preschool, Day care center, Child care agency, Montessori school or Family day care service. We keep the ones that are open, have at least one review and were updated in the past year, then read each program's own website for its ages, classes and hours. A program is marked yes only when the school says so itself.
No. This directory does not check licenses. The Alabama Department of Human Resources (DHR) licenses child care centers and homes. Look any provider up in DHR's Statewide Day Care Directory at apps.dhr.alabama.gov/daycare/daycare_search to see whether it is licensed or exempt, the date of its last inspection and its history of violations.
Alabama law lets a preschool that is an integral part of a local church ministry, or of a religious nonprofit elementary school, operate without a DHR license if it meets the exemption rules. An exempt program must still notify DHR and pass an inspection before opening, file yearly fire and health inspection reports, and post a notice that it is not licensed by DHR. A program that receives state or federal funds or runs for profit cannot use the exemption.
Alabama Quality STARS is the state's voluntary quality rating system, run under contract with DHR. Ratings go from 1-STAR, which means a program meets DHR licensing standards, to 5-STAR. Taking part is optional, so a program without a rating is not necessarily lower quality. The list of rated programs is on alabamaqualitystars.org.
Look for "Accepts child care subsidies" on a listing, or open the statewide subsidies page. DHR's subsidized child care program helps low- and moderate-income families who work, study or train. Families apply through the Child Care Management Agency for their county, and the center must be registered to take part. Confirm with the center before you enroll.
First Class Pre-K is Alabama's voluntary pre-K program for children who are 4 years old on September 1, run by the Alabama Department of Early Childhood Education. There is no registration fee and no child is turned away based on income. Families register online at prek.alaceed.alabama.gov, and each site fills its seats by random drawing.
It means the program has not said, on its own website, whether it offers that service. It is not a no. Call to ask, and if you run the program, claim the listing to fill in the blanks.
No. A basic listing is free and stays free. Programs can pay for a featured position or a premium listing, and those are marked wherever they appear.