UC Berkeley Early Childhood Education
Hi! My son got into UCB’s toddler program and I was interested in hearing people’s opinions on the program! I have seen a lot of things about how it is convenient for university affiliated families/how convenient the nutrition program is/how the school communicates with families, but I would love to hear more about how people feel about the program itself. Do your kids seem happy to be there? Do the teachers seem to be consistent and stay year after year?
Thank you for any insight!
Mar 27, 2025
Parent Replies
Hi! I have a kid in the toddler program at Haste (started when he was 4 months old in the infant program) and we had an older child who went to Haste and then Harold Jones. We absolutely love ECEP and both our kids (with very different personalities) have been very happy. In addition to the things you mentioned (and the nutrition program was a game changer for us when we switched our older kid over from a different daycare), we have had a great experience with all the teachers, student assistants, and the administration. Each classroom has varied somewhat on communication style, but they all use the same app for sharing photos and updates. And we always found that teachers have plenty of time to chat during drop-offs and pick-ups. The class sizes are small, and having three teachers plus multiple student assistants meant that my kids always had lots of one-on-one attention. We have seen very little teacher turnover, and my younger kid has had many of the same teachers as his older brother. We've also made some really good friends (that we regularly hang out with, have gone on trips with, etc.) through the parent community. If you decide to join the toddler program, you can also stay on for preschool which we also loved. Harold Jones has an incredible yard and indoor/outdoor classroom space, and the teachers are phenomenal.
Our son went through ECEP for three years, and we had a very good experience. We were at the Haste and then Clark Kerr locations. Your experience will vary depending on the teachers you have - the teachers are given a lot of autonomy to run their classes as they see fit. We had friends within the program who didn’t love that aspect, and others (like us) who didn’t have trouble with it. It kind of depends on your kid and the teachers’ style.
Overall, I’d recommend it- it was always a safe, loving environment. Our son thrived in the program.