KinderCare 2025 Corporate Responsibility Report Details Investments in Quality, Educators and Child Care Access
LAKE OSWEGO, Ore.--( BUSINESS WIRE)-- KinderCare Learning Companies, Inc., (NYSE: KLC) (“KinderCare”), a leading provider of high-quality early childhood education and care, today published its second annual Corporate Responsibility Report, detailing how the company measures program quality, supports educators and helps families access care through public and private partnerships.
The 2025 report builds on KinderCare’s inaugural report with additional performance data and insights across its national network. It gives families, employees, investors and policymakers greater visibility into the company’s practices, progress and opportunities for improvement, from external accreditation and children’s developmental screening to employee engagement and participation in publicly funded care.
“Financial sustainability and quality care go hand in hand. Earning families’ trust depends on supporting great educators, maintaining strong learning environments and understanding each child’s needs,” said Tom Wyatt, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of KinderCare Learning Companies. “Our responsibility is to deliver on those commitments and provide visibility into our progress. This report shares what we’re learning, where we’re making progress and where we need to keep improving.”
Making Quality Measurable
In 2025, 86% of KinderCare centers and programs were nationally accredited. Accreditation provides an external assessment of program practices and is one component of the company’s approach to evaluating quality alongside classroom best practices, health and safety, children’s development, and family experience.
KinderCare also completed its first full year of universal BRIGANCE developmental screenings across its early learning programs. More than 150,000 children participated in the twice-annual screenings, helping teachers understand each child’s development, tailor instruction, and identify where additional support may be helpful.
Among approximately 81,000 children screened in both fall 2024 and spring 2025, those enrolled with KinderCare for at least one year demonstrated an 11% higher school-readiness rate than newly enrolled peers. The finding identifies a relationship KinderCare will continue studying as additional years of developmental data become available.
Together, external accreditation and developmental screening provide complementary ways to evaluate programs and inform improvements. They also demonstrate how a national network of centers can support consistent quality practices while giving teachers valuable information to address individual children’s needs.
Connecting Educator and Family Experiences
Employee engagement reached 74% in 2025, reflecting substantial improvement over the long term.
Through Gallup HumanSigma, KinderCare is examining employee and family engagement together to better understand the characteristics of stronger-performing centers and inform improvements across its network.
This work reflects a central operating priority: understanding how educators’ experiences connect with the care and communication families receive every day. By examining both, KinderCare aims to identify practices that support employees and strengthen relationships with families.
Helping Families Access Care Through Public and Private Partnerships
Approximately 40% of children in KinderCare’s care received support through publicly funded programs in 2025, while more than 37,000 children were served through employer-sponsored child care.
These figures demonstrate that privately operated care serves families through multiple funding pathways, including public support and employer benefits alongside family-paid tuition.
KinderCare’s participation in a variety of funding programs for child care illustrates how providers, government programs and employers can work together within a mixed-delivery system to help families access early childhood education and care that supports children’s development and parents’ ability to work.
“Families need care they can trust and options that work for their lives,” Wyatt said. “Meeting those needs takes strong educators, sustained investment and partnerships that bring more resources to families. Quality is central to the long-term health of our business because our success depends on families choosing us and trusting us with their children.”
Strengthening Transparency and Operational Resilience
KinderCare also published its first climate-related financial risk report and completed its second year of enterprise-wide greenhouse gas measurement. These efforts provide additional information to assess potential long-term risks to its centers, programs and operations and inform planning.
Through its annual reporting, KinderCare is building a more consistent record of its performance and giving stakeholders additional information to assess how the company fulfills its responsibilities to children, families and employees.
Read KinderCare’s full 2025 Corporate Responsibility Report here.
About KinderCare Learning Companies™
KinderCare Learning Companies, Inc. (NYSE: KLC) is a leading private provider of early childhood and school-age education and care. KinderCare builds confidence for life in children and families from all backgrounds. KinderCare supports hardworking families in 42 states and the District of Columbia with differentiated flexible child care solutions through its portfolio of brands and services:
Headquartered in Lake Oswego, Oregon, KinderCare operates more than 2,700 early learning centers and sites.