Ranked #1 overall across all 11 quality dimensions among every licensed childcare center in Orange. This is the highest recognition we award in the city.
Best for Safety
Earned the highest safety score in Orange. Our safety dimension weighs inspection history, deficiency records, and parent-reported safety culture across reviews.
Best Teachers
Earned the highest teacher quality score in Orange. This dimension weighs staff tenure, qualifications, warmth reported in parent reviews, and consistency of care across classrooms.
Most Compassionate
Earned the highest compassion score in Orange. This dimension captures how families describe staff empathy, how concerns are handled, and the emotional environment of the center.
Best Infant Care
Earned the highest infant care score in Orange. This dimension focuses on caregiver ratios, responsiveness, feeding and sleep routines, and parent feedback specific to infant rooms.
Best Management
Earned the highest management score in Orange. This dimension reflects director responsiveness, communication, operational consistency, and the overall tone families experience from leadership.
Full Ranking Detail
childcarepreschoolinfanttoddler
Clever Endeavors Early Care & Education at 491 N Hewes St in Orange is a CCLD-licensed center serving infants and children through age six, operating since 1992 under owner-director Jamie Michaels' child-centered play-based philosophy. The program aligns with California and NAEYC standards, offering age-progressive curriculum spanning physical development, social-emotional growth, music, movement, and literacy, with daily parent photo reports and attentive individual child support. Strong multi-platform reviews highlight exceptional staff knowledge and family engagement; hours are 7 AM to 5 PM, Monday through Friday. The center has built a solid regional reputation across three decades, though a moderate public review base (primarily from Yelp rather than Google) means prospective families should expect a site visit to confirm enrollment availability and program fit.
Safety7.0
Curriculum7.0
Art / Music6.0
Infant care7.0
Kindergarten readiness6.0
Teacher quality8.0
Compassion8.0
Management8.0
Culture8.0
Extracurriculars7.0
Programs & curriculum
Curriculum & approach: Five dimensional view of school readiness addressing physical development, social-emotional growth, learning approaches, literacy, language, and cognition. Age-specific programs from infants through 5-year-olds with progressively structured curriculum including music, movement, fine/gross motor, language, math, science, and reading/writing for preschool ages.
Programs & activities: Inside and outside play, music and movement, fine and gross motor development, circle time, journal writing for older children, computer activities for preschool ages. Learning Genie daily reports and weekly lesson plans provided to parents.
What sets it apart: Hours: 7 AM to 5 PM, Monday-Friday. Serves ages 2-6 years. Owner/Director Jamie Michaels has operated this campus since 1992 with Child Development Program Director Permit from California Commission of Teacher Credentialing. Programs aligned with State Department of Education Guidelines and National Association for the Education of Young Children standards.
Recognition of Excellence — Website Badge
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Your center has earned independent recognition based on verified parent reviews. You are welcome to display this badge on your website. Paste the snippet below into your site's HTML — it links back to this verified recognition page.
#1 in Orange
<!-- Recognition of Excellence: Clever Endeavors Early Care & Education (Hewes) -->
<a href="https://creativemindsmontessori.com/US-wide-childcare-preschool-rankings/california/los-angeles/orange-ca/clever-endeavors-early-care-education-hewes/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" style="display:flex;align-items:flex-start;gap:16px;padding:18px;background:#FFFBF0;border:1px solid #EDD97A;border-radius:10px;max-width:420px;text-decoration:none;color:inherit;font-family:-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,'Segoe UI',Roboto,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;">
<img src="https://creativemindsmontessori.com/US-wide-childcare-preschool-rankings/badges/rank-1-city.jpg" alt="#1 in Orange - Clever Endeavors Early Care & Education (Hewes) - Orange, CA" width="80" height="80" style="border-radius:8px;flex-shrink:0;" loading="lazy">
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<strong style="display:block;font-size:15px;color:#1A1A18;margin-bottom:5px;">#1 in Orange</strong>
<span style="font-size:13px;color:#4A4A46;line-height:1.5;">Ranked #1 overall across all 11 quality dimensions among every licensed childcare center in Orange. This is the highest recognition we award in the city.</span>
</span>
</a>
Best for Safety
<!-- Recognition of Excellence: Clever Endeavors Early Care & Education (Hewes) -->
<a href="https://creativemindsmontessori.com/US-wide-childcare-preschool-rankings/california/los-angeles/orange-ca/clever-endeavors-early-care-education-hewes/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" style="display:flex;align-items:flex-start;gap:16px;padding:18px;background:#FFFBF0;border:1px solid #EDD97A;border-radius:10px;max-width:420px;text-decoration:none;color:inherit;font-family:-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,'Segoe UI',Roboto,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;">
<img src="https://creativemindsmontessori.com/US-wide-childcare-preschool-rankings/badges/dim-safety.jpg" alt="Best for Safety - Clever Endeavors Early Care & Education (Hewes) - Orange, CA" width="80" height="80" style="border-radius:8px;flex-shrink:0;" loading="lazy">
<span>
<strong style="display:block;font-size:15px;color:#1A1A18;margin-bottom:5px;">Best for Safety</strong>
<span style="font-size:13px;color:#4A4A46;line-height:1.5;">Earned the highest safety score in Orange. Our safety dimension weighs inspection history, deficiency records, and parent-reported safety culture across reviews.</span>
</span>
</a>
Best Teachers
<!-- Recognition of Excellence: Clever Endeavors Early Care & Education (Hewes) -->
<a href="https://creativemindsmontessori.com/US-wide-childcare-preschool-rankings/california/los-angeles/orange-ca/clever-endeavors-early-care-education-hewes/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" style="display:flex;align-items:flex-start;gap:16px;padding:18px;background:#FFFBF0;border:1px solid #EDD97A;border-radius:10px;max-width:420px;text-decoration:none;color:inherit;font-family:-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,'Segoe UI',Roboto,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;">
<img src="https://creativemindsmontessori.com/US-wide-childcare-preschool-rankings/badges/dim-teacherq.jpg" alt="Best Teachers - Clever Endeavors Early Care & Education (Hewes) - Orange, CA" width="80" height="80" style="border-radius:8px;flex-shrink:0;" loading="lazy">
<span>
<strong style="display:block;font-size:15px;color:#1A1A18;margin-bottom:5px;">Best Teachers</strong>
<span style="font-size:13px;color:#4A4A46;line-height:1.5;">Earned the highest teacher quality score in Orange. This dimension weighs staff tenure, qualifications, warmth reported in parent reviews, and consistency of care across classrooms.</span>
</span>
</a>
Most Compassionate
<!-- Recognition of Excellence: Clever Endeavors Early Care & Education (Hewes) -->
<a href="https://creativemindsmontessori.com/US-wide-childcare-preschool-rankings/california/los-angeles/orange-ca/clever-endeavors-early-care-education-hewes/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" style="display:flex;align-items:flex-start;gap:16px;padding:18px;background:#FFFBF0;border:1px solid #EDD97A;border-radius:10px;max-width:420px;text-decoration:none;color:inherit;font-family:-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,'Segoe UI',Roboto,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;">
<img src="https://creativemindsmontessori.com/US-wide-childcare-preschool-rankings/badges/dim-compassion.jpg" alt="Most Compassionate - Clever Endeavors Early Care & Education (Hewes) - Orange, CA" width="80" height="80" style="border-radius:8px;flex-shrink:0;" loading="lazy">
<span>
<strong style="display:block;font-size:15px;color:#1A1A18;margin-bottom:5px;">Most Compassionate</strong>
<span style="font-size:13px;color:#4A4A46;line-height:1.5;">Earned the highest compassion score in Orange. This dimension captures how families describe staff empathy, how concerns are handled, and the emotional environment of the center.</span>
</span>
</a>
Best Infant Care
<!-- Recognition of Excellence: Clever Endeavors Early Care & Education (Hewes) -->
<a href="https://creativemindsmontessori.com/US-wide-childcare-preschool-rankings/california/los-angeles/orange-ca/clever-endeavors-early-care-education-hewes/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" style="display:flex;align-items:flex-start;gap:16px;padding:18px;background:#FFFBF0;border:1px solid #EDD97A;border-radius:10px;max-width:420px;text-decoration:none;color:inherit;font-family:-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,'Segoe UI',Roboto,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;">
<img src="https://creativemindsmontessori.com/US-wide-childcare-preschool-rankings/badges/dim-infant.jpg" alt="Best Infant Care - Clever Endeavors Early Care & Education (Hewes) - Orange, CA" width="80" height="80" style="border-radius:8px;flex-shrink:0;" loading="lazy">
<span>
<strong style="display:block;font-size:15px;color:#1A1A18;margin-bottom:5px;">Best Infant Care</strong>
<span style="font-size:13px;color:#4A4A46;line-height:1.5;">Earned the highest infant care score in Orange. This dimension focuses on caregiver ratios, responsiveness, feeding and sleep routines, and parent feedback specific to infant rooms.</span>
</span>
</a>
Best Management
<!-- Recognition of Excellence: Clever Endeavors Early Care & Education (Hewes) -->
<a href="https://creativemindsmontessori.com/US-wide-childcare-preschool-rankings/california/los-angeles/orange-ca/clever-endeavors-early-care-education-hewes/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" style="display:flex;align-items:flex-start;gap:16px;padding:18px;background:#FFFBF0;border:1px solid #EDD97A;border-radius:10px;max-width:420px;text-decoration:none;color:inherit;font-family:-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,'Segoe UI',Roboto,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;">
<img src="https://creativemindsmontessori.com/US-wide-childcare-preschool-rankings/badges/dim-mgmt.jpg" alt="Best Management - Clever Endeavors Early Care & Education (Hewes) - Orange, CA" width="80" height="80" style="border-radius:8px;flex-shrink:0;" loading="lazy">
<span>
<strong style="display:block;font-size:15px;color:#1A1A18;margin-bottom:5px;">Best Management</strong>
<span style="font-size:13px;color:#4A4A46;line-height:1.5;">Earned the highest management score in Orange. This dimension reflects director responsiveness, communication, operational consistency, and the overall tone families experience from leadership.</span>
</span>
</a>
This recognition is awarded independently by Creative Minds Montessori based on publicly available parent reviews and public records. Centers do not pay for or request these rankings. Scores reflect editorial synthesis of verified parent experience — not center marketing materials. Rankings are updated periodically as new reviews are analyzed.
