WINSTON-SALEM, NC (September 15, 2020) – Although school hallways may be the quiet, there’s growing noise in our community calling for greater equity in the delivery of Pre-K – 12 education. Since 2014, The Pre-K Priority has been a powerful voice for ensuring our youngest learners are included in those efforts and recently released its Equity Report outlining the stark challenges facing Pre-K children and their families.
The Pre-K Priority Equity Report: Attaining Educational Equity in Forsyth County Through High-Quality Pre-K
The Pre-K Priority Equity Report emphasizes the current achievement gap between children of color and their white peers. Research shows that high-quality Pre-K significantly reduces or even closes gaps in math and reading.
“The facts presented in our Equity Report are clear – lack of equity in access to Pre-K for children of color means they are starting their educational journeys at a distinct and, too often, a lasting disadvantage,” said Bob Feikema, CEO of Family Services and the convener of The Pre-K Priority. “If our community wants to see equity in education, then we must begin by investing in making Pre-K accessible to every four-year-old. Pre-K needs to be part of our community conversation.”
Additionally, The Pre-K Priority Equity Report looks at factors that limit the availability of high-quality, affordable Pre-K in our community.
“We need our political leaders and community leaders to ask why we have failed to make the type of decisions needed to ensure every child is prepared to enter our educational system with the tools to achieve,” said Kellie Easton, panelist for the Pre-K Priority’s upcoming Equity Webinar and a member of The Pre-K Priority. “Clearly, our community has taken its focus off investing in our children and we continue to experience the impact socially and economically throughout every aspect of our community. "
The Pre-K Priority Community Conversation Series Expands for Fall 2020
Members of the Pre-K Priority along with state and local community leaders will serve as panelists for an expanded series of webinars this fall around key topics related to Pre-K such as Equity, Quality, Forsyth County Statistics and the Economy. Confirmed panelists include Kellie Easton, Executive Director of Action4Equity; Dr. Ebonyse Mead, President of the Educational Equity Institute; Shenell Thompson, Senior Program Officer at the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust; Bob Feikema, CEO of Family Services; Katura Jackson, Executive Director of the Child Care Resource Center; Louis Finney, CEO at Smart Start of Forsyth County, and Carla Garrett from the Office of Early Learning in the N.C. Department of Public Instruction.
The Pre-K Priority’s webinar focused on Pre-K and Educational Equity is scheduled for Sept. 22 from 5 to 6 p.m. Panelists for this webinar are Kellie Easton, Dr. Ebonyse Mead and Bob Feikema. Shenell Thompson will moderate the conversation.
“The energy around equity in our community is exciting and greatly needed,” said Thompson. “Our mission is to ensure that Pre-K is recognized as an important piece of the equity conversation. We know from national, state and local studies and as well as conversations with teachers, principals and other leaders here in Forsyth County that children who don’t have access to high-quality Pre-K too often never to catch up – not in school, not in economic mobility, not in life.”
All of the webinars are open to the public with links available from the Pre-K’s website, www.prekpriority.org and on the Pre-K Priority Facebook page.
“Addressing equity in education takes a multi-level system change approach,” said Dr. Mead. “Within this approach, higher education has a responsibility to prepare teacher candidates to be culturally responsive and equity minded. Preparing the education workforce requires teacher education programs to prioritize social justice in education.”
Later in September, The Pre-K Priority will host a webinar on the benefits of high-quality Pre-K that will include panelists Louis Finney, CEO of Smart Start of Forsyth County and Carla Garrett of the N.C. Department of Public Instruction. A final webinar is planned for October around Pre-K and the Economy. The Pre-K Priority previously hosted a webinar on Sept. 10 with Katura Jackson from the Child Care Resource Center and Bob Feikema from Family Services, as a community update of its work.
“Our hope is that by hosting conversations around the issues and disparities with Pre-K in Forsyth County, we’ll see more of our community and political leaders including Pre-K in their discussions around educational equity,” said Feikema. “Now is the time to take stock of how we are investing in not just the futures of our children but in the future of our community.”
ABOUT THE PRE-K PRIORITY
The Pre-K Priority was formed in 2014 as a coalition of education, childcare and community leaders with the goal of providing every four-year-old in Forsyth County with the opportunity to attend a high-quality Pre-K program. Our studies and reports document that Pre-K providers in Forsyth County are prepared to increase the quantity and quality of their programs. Most importantly, surveys have found that 90 percent of parents with young children would enroll their children in affordable, accessible, high-quality Pre-K programs were they available. For a complete listing of The Pre-K reports, visit www.prekpriority.org/learn-more/read.