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Discovery Early Learning Center shows expansion, seeks citywide preschool coordination
Summary
The board toured and heard a report on Discovery Early Learning Center’s new building, programs for children with individualized education plans, and citywide efforts to coordinate early learning providers and increase kindergarten readiness.
Lucas Jaeger, principal of Discovery Early Learning Center, told the Yakima School Board the site has completed a new building that houses six classrooms, office space and a kitchen and brings about 95% of early-learning staff onto a single campus.
Jaeger described three program strands at Discovery: developmental preschool (children ages 3–5 who qualify for individualized education plans), ECAP (full-day, income-eligible preschool for 4-year-olds that must maintain 18 students per class), and a P–3 collaborative that coordinates early learning through third grade with public and private partners. “Our goal is kindergarten readiness,” Jaeger said, noting Discovery serves roughly 20% of the district’s preschool-age population and the district must work with private providers to reach the remaining 80%.
The presentation detailed special education placement and mixed classrooms: several developmental classrooms are for students with IEPs; three ECAP classes are dual-language; and other inclusion classrooms mix students with and without IEPs. Jaeger said Discovery’s overall share of students with IEPs in some parts of the program runs high (he estimated about 75–85% in certain developmental configurations) and described how staffing and half-day/full-day schedules factor into planning.
The board asked about kindergarten-readiness measurement and attendance. Jaeger said readiness percentages come from the district’s kindergarten screening in the first week of school (the WAKids assessment) and that Discovery’s scores have shown an overall upward trend, though they vary year to year. The school also tracks attendance and works with families to reduce absenteeism.
Jaeger described recent outreach to private preschool providers — including home-based programs such as Happy Feet — and a citywide P–3 table that includes Discovery staff, kindergarten teachers, principals, ESD 105 representatives and private preschool providers. The collaborative has met monthly, used a leadership rubric to set goals and organized a recent early-learning workshop focused on social-emotional learning.
Why it matters: the district’s capacity for early learning affects kindergarten readiness citywide; Discovery’s new facility and coordinated outreach are intended to strengthen early-learning alignment across public and private providers.
