TL;DR
Every licensed daycare in Ohio has a public record on the state’s Ohio Child Care Search site, where you can see its license status, its Step Up To Quality rating and its inspection reports. Since July 7, 2024, Ohio rates programs Bronze, Silver or Gold instead of 1 to 5 stars. Inspection reports sort problems into serious risk (6 points), moderate risk (3 points) and lower-risk findings, and a center that piles up 24 or more moderate and serious points in 12 months cannot keep a quality rating. Online reviews tell you how parents feel; the state record tells you what inspectors actually found. Use both.
Why Ohio’s State Records Beat Online Reviews
When parents search for the best daycare in Columbus or Cleveland, the first results are usually star reviews on Google or Yelp. Those reviews are useful for questions like how friendly the front desk is or how quickly teachers reply to messages. They cannot tell you whether a center kept the right number of teachers in the infant room during its last unannounced visit. Ohio’s Department of Children and Youth (DCY) inspects every licensed child care center and posts the results online for free.
Under Ohio Administrative Code rule 5180:2-12-03, each licensed center gets at least one inspection every state fiscal year, at least one inspection is unannounced, and any complaint investigation also triggers an inspection.
How to Look Up a Daycare in 6 Steps
- Open the state search. Go to childcaresearch.ohio.gov. It is run by the State of Ohio and costs nothing to use.
- Narrow by location. Choose a county, city or ZIP code. For Columbus, choose Franklin County; for Cleveland, Cuyahoga; for Akron, Summit; for Toledo, Lucas.
- Pick the program type. Most families choose Child Care Center. You can also search Type A and Type B family child care homes, school-based preschools and school-age programs.
- Filter by quality rating. In the Step Up To Quality field, choose Bronze, Silver or Gold. Picking a tier shows programs rated at that level or higher.
- Add the services you need. You can filter for meals, transportation, before- and after-school care, publicly funded child care and the Child Care Choice Voucher, plus accreditations such as NAEYC.
- Open the program and read its inspections. Click a program name to see its license status, rating and inspection history.
Already have a center in mind? Type its name or license number instead of searching by area. You can look up any Clever Bee Academy this way, including our daycare in Columbus locations on Cleveland Avenue, Harrisburg Pike, Livingston Avenue and Northern Lights.
What Bronze, Silver and Gold Mean
Step Up To Quality (SUTQ) is Ohio’s quality rating and improvement system. Licensing is the legal minimum; a rating means a program chose to meet extra standards for teacher training, curriculum and child assessment. In 2024 Ohio replaced its five-star scale with three tiers, and each tier builds on the one below it. A program must meet every Bronze requirement plus the Silver requirements to be rated Silver, and so on.
Chart: how Ohio converted old star ratings to the new tiers
Ratings held on June 30, 2024 were converted automatically, effective July 7, 2024
| Old rating | New rating | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| 1 star or 2 stars | Bronze | Meets licensing plus the first level of quality standards |
| 3 stars | Silver | Meets Bronze plus added standards |
| 4 stars or 5 stars | Gold | Meets Bronze and Silver plus the highest tier of standards |
| No rating | None | Licensed, but not participating in or not yet rated by SUTQ |
If a website, banner or older review still mentions a star count, use the chart to translate it. According to rule 5180:2-17-03, a rating stays in place from its effective date, Bronze programs get a full on-site verification visit every two years, and Silver and Gold programs every three years. A rating can be lowered or removed if a program stops meeting the standards.
Ohio’s rating system is still being studied. Ohio State University’s Crane Center is working with DCY to measure how the 2024 changes affect child care quality, access and kindergarten outcomes, so expect the system to keep improving.
How to Read an Ohio Inspection Report
Each report starts with a summary box. Look for these lines first:
- Rules verified: how many rules the inspector checked on that visit.
- Rules with non-compliances: how many of those rules had at least one problem.
- Serious risk, moderate risk and low risk: the count of findings at each level.
- Corrective action plan due: the date the center must show the problem is fixed.
Not every finding is equal. A missing signature on a form is very different from a classroom being out of ratio. Ohio assigns points to the most important problems:
Chart: points Ohio assigns to inspection findings
Points from moderate and serious findings add up over 12 months
Source: OAC 5180:2-12-03 and OAC 5180:2-17-02
Examples from Ohio’s official list include a program that is out of ratio or over its licensed capacity (moderate risk) and a staff member refusing a background check (serious risk). Under rule 5180:2-17-02, a center with 24 or more moderate and serious risk points in the previous 12 months is not eligible for a quality rating.
Green flags and red flags
Chart: what to look for across a center’s reports
Read at least the last two or three inspections, not just the most recent one
| Green flags | Red flags |
|---|---|
| Zero serious risk findings across recent reports | Any serious risk finding, especially a repeat |
| Low-risk paperwork items fixed by the next visit | The same rule cited on visit after visit |
| Corrective action plans completed on time | Several moderate findings about ratios, supervision or sleep |
| A current Bronze, Silver or Gold rating | A rating that was recently reduced or removed |
Other Filters Worth Using
Ohio PROMISE designation
This designation shows that staff have training in caring for children with special needs. It is worth checking if your child has a diagnosis or delay.
National accreditation
The search lets you filter for NAEYC, NECPA, NACCP and other accrediting bodies, which add their own outside review.
Publicly funded child care and vouchers
If you use state help to pay for care, filter for Publicly Funded Child Care or the Child Care Choice Voucher. Our guide to daycares that accept vouchers explains how to qualify.
Hours of operation
You can filter by weekday and weekend time blocks, but the state notes that holidays and before- and after-school hours may not be listed, so confirm with the center.
Then Visit in Person
State records narrow the list; a tour helps you decide. Bring a short checklist like the University of Nebraska’s quality child care checklist, ask how the center handles ratios at drop-off and pickup, and ask to see the most recent inspection report. A good center will be glad to walk you through it. You can also compare daycare costs in Ohio before you visit so you know what questions to ask about tuition.
Clever Bee Academy has locations across Ohio. Start with our daycare in Columbus, daycare in Cleveland, childcare in Akron or daycare in Toledo pages, then look up the academy on the state site before your tour.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I check if a daycare is licensed in Ohio?
Search the program’s name, city or license number on childcaresearch.ohio.gov. The listing shows whether the license is active and links to its inspection reports.
What happened to Ohio’s 5-star daycare ratings?
On July 7, 2024, Ohio replaced the five-star Step Up To Quality scale with Bronze, Silver and Gold. One- and two-star programs became Bronze, three-star programs became Silver, and four- and five-star programs became Gold.
How often are Ohio daycares inspected?
Licensed centers get at least one inspection each state fiscal year, and at least one inspection is unannounced. New centers are inspected more often during their provisional license period, and complaints trigger extra inspections.
What is a serious risk non-compliance?
It is the most severe level of inspection finding in Ohio and carries 6 points. Serious findings can lead to a reduced or removed quality rating, loss of funding or action against the license.
Are online daycare reviews reliable?
Reviews show how individual families felt about a center, but anyone can post one. Use them alongside the state’s inspection reports, which record what licensing inspectors observed.
Can I ask a daycare for its inspection report?
Yes. Reports are public on the state site, and you can also request a copy of a center’s licensing record from DCY in writing.
Sources
- Ohio Department of Children and Youth, Ohio Child Care Search: Ohio Child Care Search
- Ohio Administrative Code 5180:2-12-03, compliance inspections and complaint investigations: OAC 5180:2-12-03
- Ohio Administrative Code 5180:2-17-03, Step Up To Quality ratings: OAC 5180:2-17-03
- Ohio Administrative Code 5180:2-17-02, Step Up To Quality eligibility: OAC 5180:2-17-02
- Ohio Department of Children and Youth, SUTQ rating conversion release notes, July 2024: DCY release notes
- The Ohio State University Crane Center, study of Ohio child care quality and access: Crane Center study
- University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension, Quality Child Care: Nebraska Extension checklist
See a Clever Bee classroom for yourself
Look us up on the state site, then come meet our teachers and ask anything. Schedule a tour today.
