Spotlight on Brightside Academy
Brightside Academy in Toledo, Ohio, has partnered with Shine Early Learning since 2014 to strengthen their impact for children and families.
About Brightside Academy
Brightside Academy is the leading Head Start and Early Head Start provider in Toledo, Ohio. With a focus on early education and kindergarten readiness, Brightside Academy helps lead children to their full potential and prepares them to be life-long learners.
How long has Brightside Academy Partnered with Shine Early Learning?
Brightside Academy has partnered with Shine Early Learning since 2014 and was the first large-scale partnership of its type. When the partnership began, Brightside did not have experience in operating a Head Start program but had a wealth of knowledge in managing childcare centers. They were looking for a partner that could provide expertise in Head Start and could guide them through the start-up of a brand new program. Over the past 10 years, the partnership between Brightside and Shine has continued to grow and thrive and has resulted in a quality Head Start program in the Toledo area.
How would you describe your experience working with Shine Early Learning?
Working with Shine has been a life- and career-changing experience. Working with Shine, I learned how to capture and review the data and really dig into that information. We reviewed our vision and our mission. The experience has been just amazing. ~ Katie Maccagnone, Executive Director
“Without Shine, we would not be what we are today. Without the tools and resources, knowledge, and innovation, our program would be light years behind. Without Shine, it would have been a much slower process to get where we are today.”
What should everyone know about Shine Early Learning?
Shine Early Learning is innovative. They have a data-driven focus for programs and a child and family focus. Their staff helped us build a team and supported the value that we put into creating great opportunities for children and families – to really close the achievement gap for the families that we’re working with. ~ Katie Maccagnone, Executive Director
How does Brightside Academy partner with Shine Early Learning to make the world a better place?
It goes back to the impact that we have for the children and families that we’re working with. It goes back to really and truly loving and caring about the children and the mission that we’re serving. Shine Early Learning is expanding, through not just Acelero Learning, but through all the different collaborations they have across the country. We’re building a larger community. ~ Katie Maccagnone, Executive Director
What makes Shine Early Learning special?
Learning new processes and procedures and really learning how to support children and families in a whole new way was very impactful for me and our entire program. ~ Katie Maccagnone, Executive Director
Can you share a story about your experience working with Shine?
A story that exemplifies who Shine really is goes back to their hard work and dedication, as well as their innovation. We had a whole team of people who would fly into Toledo and literally live in our city. They became a part of my team and my community. Working with them changed our mission. It really got us to believe and to buy into our program and want to make a greater impact on the community, the children, and the families that we serve. ~ Katie Maccagnone, Executive Director