Pre-K Model Cohort Classroom Initiative

The Pre-K Priority: The Power of Collaborative Impact

The Pre-K Priority is a community coalition working together to improve the quality, accessibility, and number of Pre-K classrooms in Forsyth County in order to eliminate the persistent educational disparities among students entering Kindergarten. Its mission is to educate, engage, and mobilize the public and secure the commitment of civic leaders to support the establishment of a high-quality system of Pre-K programs available to all four-year-olds in Forsyth County.

As a systems change coalition, The Pre-K Priority includes parents, providers, business and philanthropic partners, healthcare organizations, higher education institutions, faith-based groups and community agencies that are child- and family-focused, including Family Services.

The Pre-K Priority’s work is guided by 19 recommendations issued in conjunction with the Forsyth County Early Childhood Education Task Force and now led by The Pre-K Priority Steering Committee.

Pre-K Model Cohort Classrooms

In 2023, the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners and the City of Winston-Salem invested $4 million of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds for a unique two-year community initiative to support increased quality standards in a model cohort of 30 Pre-K classrooms representative of the Pre-K landscape across Forsyth County. Coalition partners of The Pre-K Priority collaborating to deliver distinct, critical components of the pilot include Family Services, Child Care Resource Center, Smart Start of Forsyth County, Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools, Forsyth Futures, and the Hispanic League.

Together, we are providing specific high-quality supports that were either limited or nonexistent to these 30 model cohort classrooms, teachers, students and families. Our work impacts nearly 400 Pre-K students and their families along with 60 Pre-K teachers across WS/FCS, Head Start, NC Pre-K, and independent/private Pre-K providers.

As part of the Pre-K Model Cohort Classroom initiative, Family Services ensures that the families are engaged in their child’s education and success by providing advocacy using the evidence-based family engagement model employed by the Head Start program. Through the work of our Family Advocates, families are able to better understand the developmental needs of their children, allowing strong bonds and communication between caregivers and educators. Family Advocates also work with families to create Family Goal Setting Agreements to help meet certain needs, and connect them with valuable community services and resources.

“For more than a decade, Family Services has played an important role in igniting, convening and stewarding the universal Pre-K conversation here in Forsyth County,” said Michelle Speas, Chief Operating Officer of Family Services, Inc. “We have long recognized the vital role access to high-quality, affordable Pre-K plays in the well-being of our children, our families and our community as a whole.”

Leslie Mullinix, Project Director of The Pre-K Priority and a member of the Family Services team, provides close coordination and support for all of The Pre-K Priority partners.

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“Family Services plays a vital role in helping structure an accessible, equitable, high-quality Pre-K system for Forsyth County. It is only through the collaboration of parents, child care leaders and experts in our community that this work is possible.”

Leslie Mullinix
Project Director, The Pre-K Priority