Before Kuna Early Learning became one of Idaho AEYC’s 24 Early Learning Collaboratives (ELCs), the community was already asking: How could Kuna prepare its youngest learners for kindergarten? 

The question came after a previous Kuna School District superintendent noticed low Idaho Reading Indicator (IRI) scores among kindergarteners. The district then brought together local teachers to begin addressing the issue and to create solutions. 

In 2022, Idaho AEYC brought Kuna into its statewide network of Early Learning Collaboratives to join communities in Idaho working together to strengthen early learning around their own local needs. The partnership brought funding, resources, and connections from Idaho AEYC to help strengthen a system the community had already begun building and establishing it as an official ELC. 

“The support from Idaho AEYC is not just for us as the governing body of Kuna Early Learning. It’s directly handed back to families through printed resources, early learning kits, and programs like READY! For Kindergarten," said Tracy Hall Johnson, Kuna ELC’s Project Manager. 

Johnson brought a background in local government and system-building to the ELC, where she has focused on creating the connections needed to build a strong and sustainable early learning system.  

Today, the Kuna School District serves as the ELC’s fiscal agent, while district employees also serve on the ELC’s Early Learning Advisory Committee to work alongside each other toward a shared goal of creating solutions for kindergarten readiness.  

One of those solutions is My Place Preschool, which opened in 2020 to provide accessible, high-quality preschool to address the needs of Kuna families, including school district employees who needed care that worked with their schedules.  

“We established a preschool to address the needs of school district employees, especially teachers, that were finding it difficult to find a high-quality preschool that works with the schedule of a teacher,” Johnson said. 

The preschool follows the school district’s schedule and offers before and after school care for working families. It also mirrors the district’s professional development days to allow My Place Preschool's teachers to participate in professional learning. 

Kuna's rapid population growth brought challenges for the preschool, which moved locations several times before finding a long-term partner in KunaNaz Church. The church provided its existing childcare space to the ELC at no cost. 

“That is one of the great success stories of our ELC. We were able to overcome adversity, and what you thought might be the end of a program was actually the very beginning of a new version,” Johnson said.  

My Place Preschool serves children ages 3 to 5 in small classrooms designed to maintain low teacher-to-student ratios. The preschool also prioritizes bilingual teachers to better serve Kuna’s Spanish-speaking families.  

“Having bilingual teachers is a priority for us to be able to welcome and communicate with all children and families in our community,” Johnson said. 

Denise Macaluso, My Place’s director and a member of the Kuna Early Learning Board, said the preschool’s mission is to help children develop the skills they need for kindergarten through learning and play. 

But the ELC realized that preparing children for kindergarten couldn’t stop at the classroom door. If the community wanted to strengthen kindergarten readiness, families needed to be part of the learning, too.  

READY! For Kindergarten is a program offered by Idaho AEYC to give parents practical tools to support their children’s development through everyday interactions and play at home. 

“It was filling a need for that early education piece for parents. It quickly showed great success in a very short period of time and has become a community-wide resource,” Johnson said.  

READY! for Kindergarten is delivered throughout Kuna through the school district for children ages 0 to 5. At My Place Preschool, every enrolled family participates in READY! workshops on-site to give parents the opportunity to learn directly from their children’s teachers.  

The program reinforces the same early math, reading, and language skills children are developing in the classroom, creating a connection between what children learn at preschool and what families can continue at home.  

In addition to READY!’s three-part workshop series by age, the program also provides READY! For Math and READY! Social and Emotional Learning workshops to support development across a variety of essential skills.  

“We see a big difference between parents and their communication after READY!” said Macaluso. “They want to communicate with us and their kids because they are learning that’s important.”  

READY! gives families a window into what their children are already learning and provides tangible tools to show them how to continue learning at home through play and everyday moments.  

“Our town has a limited number of high-quality preschools, and this program makes the parents, who are their child’s first teacher, more competent and engaged," a Kuna READY! and My Place Preschool Parent said. 

“I feel more confident about how to best support my child’s education and early learning. READY! sparked creativity in how to engage with my child in a meaningful way." 

The program also helps introduce families to the school system early to build relationships and trust with teachers before children reach kindergarten.  

“It helps build community among our families at the preschool and has allowed them to see their children’s teachers facilitating these workshops and see them in their environment,” Johnson said.  

“It’s been great for allowing our families to continue this learning through play at home and through everyday moments.”  

Through Idaho AEYC, Kuna ELC also offers READY! Provider Training, which gives early childhood providers the tools and materials to bring READY! back to the programs and families they support.  

“It’s been successful as these providers are going to bring READY! to their respective workplaces and offer it to those families along with walking away with materials for their centers,” Johnson said.  

Idaho AEYC’s impact through Kuna ELC goes beyond programs and funding it provides. The ELC network itself gives Idaho's communities an opportunity to learn from one another, share ideas and adapt successful approaches to meet their own local needs.  

“All ELCs face similar issues and tackle them in very different ways. I love hearing the success stories but also the challenges too, as we learn from those just as much as the successes,” Johnson said.  

Kuna ELC began as a community looking for ways to address kindergarten readiness and has grown into a collaborative system of educators, providers, and families working together for kindergarten readiness. Johnson said Idaho AEYC’s support has been critical to making that growth possible.  

“Sustainability is a huge issue for us. If we didn’t have the support of Idaho AEYC, it would be a completely different story,” Johnson said.  

That support reaches families directly through scholarships that help make My Place Preschool accessible, as well as printed resources, early learning kits and programs like READY! For Kindergarten.  

Looking forward, Kuna ELC said their work is far from finished. But the community is continuing to build a stronger foundation for children by working together. 

“In a town like Kuna, you realize how many people value the experience and support of children birth to five, and we want to continue bringing people together with a mutual goal in mind,” Johnson said.