San Francisco, CA
JCC-Rosenberg Early Childhood Center

Parents' Comments

Parent #1
We had 2 kids go through JCC Rosenberg. I wish we could rate it 2 1/2 stars, as overall it's uneven in quality.

The building itself is cozy, and homelike which is nice. It's certainly a safe environment. The program strives to be child-driven and to support each kid as an individual, and has some amount of success with this.

The teachers range from truly outstanding, to horrible and how we felt about the school any year depended a lot on what teachers our kids had. There was also a lot of teacher turn-over between school years, some times as much as 1/2 the staff. This led to inconsistency in the program.

There are additional activities like music, garden, gymnastics and art which the kids loved, but there were often large gaps in having specialists available for these, so they were suspended sometimes for months.

The current director is very good, enthusiastic and smart and is doing the best she can overall. She's certainly an improvement over the one that came before her, who was promoted to a higher-up job at the JCC - we felt she was really poor in the way she acted with both parents and children.

Parent #2
This school has much to offer and is highly successful at building a strong community including children, parents and staff. Their Reggio approach fosters collaboration and curiousity, and keeps children busy and engaged. Some parents may be put off by the lack of supervision in the bathroom for the younger, toliet trained children or those just learning. Some of the teachers are excellent, some clearly are not.

Parent #3
Strengths: leadership at site and at JCC, reggio emilio philosophy, length of tenure of many staff, and fact that JCC pays better and offers staff JCC benefits, we've had 6 teachers and several floaters and all have been excellent over the 3 years, specialists in art, music, garden, gymnastics, outdoor space, organization of the day including mixed age activity T,W,Th afternoon, the Rosenberg community of parents/families, the low-key but enriching exposure to Jewish values, traditions.

Parent #4
The 'Reggio Emilia-inspired' curriculum is relatively new and getting stronger. In the past two years we've seen a lot of progress in the ways the teachers implement it and the school supports it. The pre-K ('Gan Katan') program/teachers in particular are terrific. This is one of the few full day programs in the city--very supportive of working parents.

Parent #5
Strengths: provides safe, engaging and fun environment for kids as young as 2, in a full time program. Not many full time programs in the city, and certainly not for 2 year olds. Great outdoor areas. I have some great friends among parents. Weaknesses: Expensive, and not sure where the money goes. Teacher turn over is high. Not all staff either understand or employ Reggio Emilio approach.

Parent #6
I can't imagine a better place for my daughter to have started her school experience. I am Jewish and her exposure to Jewish holidays, rituals and songs was great. The director of the Rosenberg site is fabulous--smart, energetic, level-headed. I always felt comfortable leaving my daughter, who never once said she didn't want to go to school or indicated she was less than happy to spend her days there. The parents are, on the whole, an engaged, informed, cooperative group, and we've made some terrific friends. The teachers are uneven. Some are truly outstanding and couldn't be better. Others are fine but nothing too special. I loved the physical setting. I understand the appeal of the Reggio Emilio educational philosophy and the importance it places on children's interests and feelings. But I wish there had been more specific goals and structure to the curriculum.

Montessori? Waldorf? Play-based?

What school type is right for your child? Is one model better than another? What does the research say?

View an example from the Savvy Source guide to learn more.

Trace around your child's foot, with shoe on, on a piece of white construction paper or card stock. Have child cut out the shoe print and add a spooky face. Glue it to a popsicle stick and you have a ghost stick puppet!

Comment (3)

Share From Send A Link To Your Comments:

Take Our Expert Quiz

how is your toddler or preschooler progressing developmentally?