The Cuesta College Children’s Center received accreditation from the National Association for the Education of Young Children in December 2025. The NAEYC accreditation puts Cuesta’s Children’s Center on a small list of preschools in the area, and signals to families, educators and policymakers that their program prioritizes high-quality learning experiences and that they are continuously working to improve.
The Cuesta College Children’s Center opened in spring 1974 and was created as a laboratory school with the goal of offering Cuesta students studying Child Development and Family Studies hands-on experience in early learning classrooms that provided the highest -quality childcare based on the philosophies taught in their classrooms.
The Child Center now has two programs, one at the San Luis Obispo campus and another at the North County campus in Paso Robles. They are mirrored programs that share the same philosophy and number of classrooms, both providing care to children 18 months to 4 years old.
The children are separated into three classrooms by age, with a lead teacher and one or two assistant teachers in each room. Full-time Cuesta students receive first priority when applying for childcare, and represent 40% of the children enrolled. Cuesta faculty and staff members represent 30%, and SLO County families are the other 30%. As a high-demand program, there are around 250 families on the waitlist at any moment, making it essential for people to apply for enrollment and get on the waitlist as early as possible.
Maddy Chevalier, Cuesta College Children’s Center Director, oversees both locations with the help of an on-site supervisor on the North County campus. Chevalier has deep roots at Cuesta’s Children Center, starting as a student intern herself in 2011. While finishing her Child Development degrees at Cal Poly and the University of La Verne, she worked her way up to a lead teacher in 2019 before receiving the director role in 2022.
Since becoming Director, Chevalier has put a big emphasis on finding new ways to support and protect the teachers at the center from burnout, many of whom have been at Cuesta’s Children’s Center since before Chevalier herself was an intern. She does this by giving teachers three-day weekends for the summer, doing team-building activities, expanding their learning opportunities, and really making sure they know she is there to support them. “We’re here for the children; they are our priority, but we are also human,” Chevalier said.
The NAEYC accreditation was a moment of celebration for Chevalier and her team because it showed them that the high standards they set for themselves not only matter, but are being recognized. “The accreditation process itself was a lot of documentation and paperwork, but the thing we really took pride in was that we didn’t need to change our curriculum at all, we just had to show them what we were already doing,” said Chevalier.
NAEYC, which is celebrating its 100th year, is a professional membership organization that works to promote equitable early learning for all young children, birth through age 8, by connecting early childhood practice, policy, and research. Today, the association comprises tens of thousands of individual members of the early childhood community and 50 affiliates across the country, all committed to delivering on the promise of high-quality early learning.
“Being the lab school for the Child Development Program gives us an edge because we must be high quality, and constantly looking to evolve and stay up to date with the latest research and education in order to show Cuesta students the high bar of child care,” Chevalier said.
The Children’s Center is currently working to open a new classroom to provide more toddler spots for the community, which they’ve noticed is in high demand.
Registration for the 2026-2027 school year is now open through July, with very limited spaces available. Students receive priority registration and are encouraged to get on the waitlist as soon as possible.
