Licensed Full-Day Daycare in Shaker Heights, OH

Full-Day Daycare in Shaker Heights

As of August 2026

Shaker Heights' 20 licensed providers split 15 centers to 4 licensed homes, with a small remainder in other categories. Thirteen providers carry a Google rating, nearly two-thirds of the roster, averaging 4.0★, with 6 of those 13 rated 4.5★ or higher. Nine Shaker Heights providers hold a medal under Ohio's Step Up To Quality, spread across all three tiers. CloverMap lists all 20 Shaker Heights providers with rating and medal status shown together.

What to know about childcare in Shaker Heights

Shaker Heights' 20 providers split 15 centers to 4 licensed homes, with a small remainder in other categories — centers make up about three-quarters of the roster, leaving a smaller but real pool of home-based options for families who prefer that setting.

Thirteen of Shaker Heights' 20 providers carry a Google rating, close to two-thirds of the roster, averaging 4.0★, with 6 of those 13 rated 4.5★ or higher. That 4.0★ average sits a bit below several neighboring comparable Ohio cities, though it still reflects generally positive reviews across a reasonably large rated group. Separately, 9 Shaker Heights providers hold a Step Up To Quality medal — 4 Gold, 1 Silver, and 4 Bronze, a distribution spread fairly evenly across all three tiers.

All 20 Shaker Heights providers are licensed through Ohio's Department of Children and Youth (DCY), which sets baseline staffing, health and safety, and facility standards that both centers and licensed homes must meet before opening. Step Up To Quality sits above that baseline as a voluntary program — participating providers are evaluated further and awarded Bronze, Silver, or Gold, while a provider without a medal remains fully licensed regardless.

For a Shaker Heights parent, the fairly even spread across Gold, Silver, and Bronze medals makes tier comparison genuinely useful here — THE NEST SCHOOLS SHAKER HEIGHTS is one example among the roster's centers. Given the more modest citywide rating average, reading individual reviews alongside medal status may offer a fuller picture than the average alone, especially when comparing two similarly medaled providers.

With both centers and licensed homes represented in real numbers, Shaker Heights gives parents an actual choice of format rather than one type dominating by default. Deciding on that early, then filtering by medal tier and rating within the chosen format, is a practical way to work through the 20-provider list. Shaker Heights' medal spread — 4 Gold, 1 Silver, 4 Bronze — is one of the more evenly distributed among comparable Ohio cities, meaning a Gold medal here sits alongside a genuine number of Bronze and Silver peers rather than standing almost alone at the top.

That evenness makes tier-by-tier comparison a meaningfully useful exercise for a Shaker Heights family narrowing a shortlist. With both centers and homes present in real numbers, and medals spread across all three tiers, Shaker Heights offers one of the more genuinely varied comparison sets among comparable Ohio cities — worth taking advantage of by checking format, medal tier, and rating together rather than defaulting to whichever provider appears first in a search.