1.1 - Who We Are

Who We Are

The Early Education Department (EED) of the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) has been serving children proudly since 1943. Preschool services at SFUSD first began during World War II to help working mothers find childcare. Since then, the EED has evolved over the last seven decades to become more developmentally enriching than its early role. Today, we educate over 4,000 children annually, including toddlers, preschoolers, transitional kindergarteners, as well as after-school students to ensure quality educational experiences. San Francisco's rich ethnic, cultural, and linguistic tapestry is well represented in our student population, and we design our curriculum and programming to accommodate their incredible diversity. Children and their families can take advantage of our unique programs and enrichment activities in schools throughout the city five days per week. Our highly-qualified teaching staff brings extensive experience to every classroom, whether your child is enrolled in a toddler class, preschool, or out-of-school time (OST) program.

Shaping the Future of Our Children Together 

SFUSD’s Early Education Department (EED) follows the California Preschool and Transitional Kindergarten Learning Foundations to provide authentic early learning experiences that set students on the path to academic and life success. By starting early, we aim to ensure that every child completing our EED program is ready for kindergarten, with the long-term goal of preparing them for future academic opportunities, successful careers, and healthy lives. We are committed to access, equity, and improving student outcomes, holding ourselves accountable to both students and their families. We believe strong partnerships with families enhance students' academic and social-emotional success, benefiting not only the individual but the entire school community.

Advancing Equity in Early Childhood Education: NAEYC Children Position Statement

All children have the right to equitable learning opportunities that help them achieve their full potential as engaged learners and valued members of society. Thus, all early childhood educators have a professional obligation to advance equity. They can do this best when they are effectively supported by the early learning settings in which they work and when they and their wider communities embrace diversity and full inclusion as strengths, uphold fundamental principles of fairness and justice, and work to eliminate structural inequities that limit equitable learning opportunities.

Our Philosophy and Goals: 

SFUSD’s EED welcomes all children and families and values the diversity they bring to our learning community. We are committed to building inclusive environments that provide every child with the support they need to thrive.

 In the Early Education Department, we believe:

• Learning Through Play and Exploration: Children learn best in hands-on, play-based environments that encourage exploration and inquiry, supported by developmentally appropriate experiences.
• Celebrating Individuality: Our curriculum honors each child’s unique strengths, interests, and lived experiences, fostering agency and healthy self-esteem.
• Whole-Child Development: We nurture physical, social, emotional, and cognitive growth through a balance of structured activities and supervised free play, including music, art, dramatic play, math, science, and outdoor exploration.
• Culturally Responsive Teaching: Learning environments and activities are thoughtfully designed to be developmentally appropriate and culturally inclusive, respecting diverse learning styles and experiences.
• The Power of Relationships: Children thrive in secure, trusting environments where they feel seen, valued, and loved. Families and educators are role models who guide social-emotional growth and foster a lifelong love of learning.
• Comprehensive Skill Building: By offering a variety of activities—such as music, art, dramatic play, outdoor exploration, and games—we support children’s cognitive, motor, social, and language development, ensuring readiness for transitional kindergarten and beyond.

Our Curriculum

Educators facilitate learning through developmentally appropriate practices that support learning through inquiry, exploration, universally designed indoor and outdoor learning environments and teacher-facilitated group times. 

 The curriculum utilized by all toddler and preschool classrooms is The Creative Curriculum, an early childhood curriculum that focuses on project-based investigations as a means for children to apply skills that address four areas of development: social/emotional, physical, cognitive, and language. The curriculum is designed to foster the development of the whole child through independent, small and large group activities centered around 11 interest areas (blocks, dramatic play, toys and games, art, library, discovery, sand and water, music and movement, cooking, computers, and outdoors). The curriculum provides teachers with details on child development, classroom organization, teaching strategies, and engaging families in the learning process.  

 Our curriculum is supplemented with the California Preschool/Transitional Kindergarten Learning Foundations and Frameworks and the Desired Results Developmental Profile (DRDP 2015) assessment system. These program standards and assessment tools were designed by the California Department of Education (CDE) to increase program quality in early care and education programs to ensure children enter kindergarten. 

 We offer special enrichment activities throughout the year that enhance learning and are connected to the classroom projects and students' interests.  We provide support services including program specialists, curriculum and developmental experts, social workers, mental health professionals, behaviorists, as well as family literacy programs, parent engagement activities, environmental literacy programs, visual and performing arts projects and much more. 

Our Educators

Professional Qualified Teaching Teams 

Our schools have cultivated an exceptional faculty and staff, who reflect the same cultural and linguistic diversity as our students. Each one holds the early education credentials and/ or permits required by the State of California. Beyond fulfilling requirements, we seek to hire talented principals, teachers, and paraeducators who go above and beyond teaching and learning as we strive to support the whole child. Many of our students develop strong connections with our staff, maintaining these bonds even after progressing to elementary, middle, and high school.

 Staff Development

The EED supports the continuous growth of our teaching staff and provides a variety of professional development opportunities each year. Every year, we assess the individual needs of our staff, provide several professional development opportunities to foster growth and evaluate every member of the team. We provide professional development that includes topics related to inclusive practices, promoting positive behavior, family partnership, social and emotional learning, math, and language and literacy. We also provide new employees an orientation to guide them in understanding district and school policies.

 Our Schools & Days/Hours of Operation 

The EED offers programs at 30 locations across San Francisco, including 19 elementary schools serving our early education students, and 11 early education schools (EES) focused exclusively on toddler, preschool, TK, and out-of-school time (OST) programs. Some of our early education programs operate five days a week, ranging from 7:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. (with hours varying by site) year-round, providing both school-day and full-time options.