Daycare, pre-K, language schools, and school pathways in Los Angeles and Orange County

The Child Care Alliance of Los Angeles connects families to local Resource and Referral agencies that provide free, personalized referrals to licensed child care. A zip-code search routes you to the correct agency across LA County for centers and family child care homes.

Agencies can also help families ask about subsidized care for low-income and CalWORKs households. The referral itself is free; tuition, subsidy, or no-cost placement depends on the provider and eligibility rules.

Start here before you cold-call every preschool on a group chat. Child Care Choices for Los Angeles County also points families to CCALA and lists (888) 922-4453.

Los Angeles County Office of Education's Head Start and Early Learning Division helps families find free early education programs for eligible children from before birth through age five. Families search by address, submit a pre-enrollment form, and get live support at 877-773-5543.

The apply path is four steps: find a local program, gather documents, submit pre-enrollment, then wait for staff follow-up. Child Care Choices describes these referrals as free early education for low-income children birth to 5.

Use prekkid.org as the countywide first stop before you pay for private preschool tours. Eligibility still has to clear after intake, so keep backup care options until you have a seat.

LAUSD's Division of Special Education publishes parent guides, IEP resources, and workshops for families navigating services. School and Family Support Services is the district call center for questions or concerns about a student's IEP at (213) 241-6701 or spedsfss@lausd.net.

SFSS encourages starting with school staff, then regional offices, and using the call center when site answers stall. Parent pages link foundational special education documents, Child Find information, and workshop calendars.

Save this contact when an IEP meeting leaves you with unanswered process questions. It is district navigation support, not a private advocate hire.

LA Unified Dual Language Education programs offer TK through 12 instruction in English plus a partner language, with Two-Way, One-Way, and World Language Immersion models. Partner languages include Arabic, Armenian, French, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, and Spanish across more than 230 DLE programs.

Families apply through the Choices application during the on-time October window or the later late-application period. One application can include multiple programs, which matters when your first-choice campus is lottery-tight.

Treat Choices timing as part of the school plan, not an afterthought. Confirm the current year's dates on Choices.LAUSD.net before you promise relatives a specific immersion campus.

Los Angeles Unified offers Early Education Centers, California State Preschool, and Transitional Kindergarten with published enrollment steps. Families use the Resident School Identifier, then enroll online at enroll.lausd.net or through the Early Childhood Education Division at (213) 241-0415.

TK rides the public K-12 enrollment path. Early Education Center and CSPP seats often follow state subsidy rules, so fees and eligibility differ from neighborhood TK. The One Enrollment portal covers new TK through 12 students and early education pathways.

Find your resident school first, then decide whether you need subsidized preschool or standard TK paperwork. Call ECED when the online path stalls on preschool questions.

Los Angeles Public Library offers free online tutoring for grades K-12 and after-school Student Zone homework centers at many branches. Online tutors cover math, science, English, social studies, and writing for students and adult learners.

Student Zones provide quiet study space, reserved computers, basic supplies, free printing, and trained helpers. Live one-to-one help runs 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., seven days a week on the Student Success tools, while branch Student Zone hours vary by location.

Use this when you need homework support without a private tutor bill. Call your branch for Student Zone hours, then bookmark the online tutoring path for nights the branch is closed.

Field Elementary hosts Pasadena Unified's Mandarin Dual Language Immersion Program for grades TK through 5 at 3600 E. Sierra Madre Blvd. in Pasadena. The campus phone is 626-396-5860 for school-level questions.

Classes integrate native Mandarin speakers with non-native speakers and target listening, speaking, reading, and writing in Mandarin and Simplified Chinese alongside English. This listing is the named school path when a district overview is not enough for relatives who ask for an address.

Confirm enrollment steps with PUSD and Field before you assume an open seat. Pair this page with the broader Pasadena immersion overview if you are still comparing French and Spanish sites.

Pasadena Unified Dual Language Immersion programs develop bilingualism in English plus French, Mandarin, or Spanish using a 90:10 elementary model that moves toward 50:50 by 4th grade. Named sites include Altadena Arts Magnet for French, Field Elementary for Mandarin, and Spanish immersion options such as Jackson, Longfellow, and San Rafael.

The district FAQ explains target-language instruction and recommends continuous participation through at least 6th grade, which is useful when relatives push for an early English-only switch.

Confirm open enrollment or magnet process with PUSD before you assume a seat. This is the San Gabriel Valley pathway outside LAUSD Choices.

Long Beach Unified offers Dual Language Immersion with published 90/10 and 50/50 models so students can become bilingual and biliterate. Elementary pathways such as Webster's Spanish-English 90/10 program feed into middle-school dual immersion continuation options in the district.

Webster Elementary describes a Spanish-English two-way immersion path from kindergarten to fifth grade and lists a counselor contact for interested parents. Keller Dual Immersion Middle School continues the district's K-5 DI option in Spanish and English for grades 6-8.

Harbor families should ask school or district Dual Language staff about current seat availability rather than treating the model page as an automatic placement. Department phone is published at (562) 997-8000 x 7142960.

Anaheim Elementary School District offers Dual Language Immersion in Spanish, Korean, and Mandarin Chinese. Spanish DLI is available across district schools, Korean DLI is at Thomas Jefferson Elementary, and Mandarin Chinese DLI is at Theodore Roosevelt Elementary.

Spanish DLI follows a 90/10 model that moves to 50/50 by grades 4 through 6. District pages document K-6 participation expectations and school-level contacts for registration through AESD.

North OC families who want Korean or Mandarin immersion should target Jefferson or Roosevelt specifically, then use neighborhood Spanish DLI when Spanish is the partner language.

Thomas Jefferson Elementary hosts Anaheim Elementary's Korean Dual Language Immersion program for grades K through 6. Native Korean and native English speakers learn together toward biliteracy, and the district identifies the program as Orange County's first Korean DLI academy.

The Korean DLI page lists the Jefferson principal contact at (714) 517-8917. District DLI school listings confirm Korean immersion is offered at Jefferson rather than across every AESD campus.

Call the school when you need a scarce North OC Korean immersion option beyond Spanish or Mandarin. Free public enrollment still depends on AESD registration and available seats.

Orange County Educational Arts Academy is a tuition-free public charter in Santa Ana serving about 625 students in TK through 8. The school runs a Two-Way Bilingual Immersion program with arts instruction for all students.

Enrollment requires an interest form, attendance at a virtual information session, and a lottery when demand exceeds seats. Admissions materials outline priority and general lottery steps for the upcoming school year.

Choose OCEAA when you want central OC dual immersion plus arts outside a neighborhood-district path. Treat the lottery as real capacity math, not a soft waitlist promise.

Irvine Chinese Immersion Academy is a tuition-free public charter authorized by Irvine Unified, offering Mandarin-English immersion for TK through 5 on a year-round calendar at 1 Liberty in Irvine. There is no admission fee, and the school does not currently provide transportation.

Admission runs through an Apollo lottery application, with waitlist options when the lottery window is closed. IUSD's charter FAQ confirms Board approval of the ICIA charter petition.

South OC families who want Mandarin immersion should plan for self-transport and lottery timing. Confirm current grade openings and application dates on the school enrollment pages before you decline other options.

Irvine Chinese School's weekend program, run by the South Coast Chinese Cultural Association since 1976, offers Saturday and Sunday Mandarin classes for school-age students. It is a K-12 heritage language program with large Orange County enrollment and WASC supplementary accreditation noted through June 2027.

Tracks include heritage traditional characters with Zhuyin, heritage simplified characters with Pinyin, and Chinese as a Second Language for non-Mandarin-speaking households. Morning and afternoon class times are published for weekend scheduling.

Use ICS when weekday immersion is not available or when you want a heritage track that matches the character system your family already uses. Confirm current tuition during the admission inquiry.