Author: Andrea Miller

Teshanda Middleton to Lead Ready Ready

Ready for School, Ready for Life Announces New CEO

April 7, 2025 – The Board of Directors of Ready for School, Ready for Life is excited to announce Teshanda Middleton as the organization’s next CEO. She will begin her post on April 7, 2025. Since 2019, Ready Ready has been focused on building a connected, innovative system of care for children beginning prior to birth to age 8. In her role as CEO, Middleton will guide this collective impact work to ensure that families are better connected to needed services, and that all children in Guilford County are healthy and are ready to succeed in kindergarten and beyond. 

“We are excited to welcome Teshanda Middleton to Ready Ready and to Guilford County,” said Terri Shelton, Ready Ready board chair and Executive Director of Spartan Strategies, Inc. “Her experience facilitating transformational community change will continue to propel the collective impact work Ready Ready is leading locally and will also help other communities transform how they support children and families for long-term success.”

Prior to joining Ready Ready, Middleton was the Chief Executive Officer of Communities In Schools of Memphis (CISM), a non-profit organization focused on empowering youth and families through community supports and cross-sector partnerships.

Middleton led CISM through significant expansion, enhancing the organization’s reach and impact. Her leadership focused on building strong partnerships, aligning strategies, and securing resources to drive mission success. She co-led efforts within the Communities in Schools TN Alliance to secure an $18M TANF grant supporting integrated student support services across the state, reflecting her ability to collaborate effectively for large-scale impact.

In previous leadership positions, Middleton has demonstrated a record of success delivering transformational growth and building strong organizational culture focused on equitable outcomes for underserved youth and families. She has played critical roles in multi-sector initiatives such as More For Memphis, where she led the Education and Youth Development anchor collaborative, bringing together nonprofit partners, community members, and stakeholders around a shared vision for collective impact.

“I have a deep personal commitment to advancing equitable opportunities for children and families,” commented Middleton. “As I come into the work of Ready Ready, my core beliefs are rooted in relationship-building, strategic alignment of community resources that support families and children, fostering inclusive environments, and advancing impactful policy initiatives,” continued Middleton. 

Teshanda Middleton holds a Master of Education degree in Curriculum and Instruction and is currently pursuing a second master’s degree in Leadership and Public Policy. She has recently relocated to Guilford County to lead Ready Ready in this critical role. She succeeds Laura Weber who served as Interim CEO since 2024. The Board thanks Laura and previous CEO, Charrise Hart for providing outstanding leadership to Ready Ready.

About Ready Ready

Ready for School, Ready for Life is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization working to create a connected, innovative system of care for Guilford County’s youngest children and their families that will substantially increase the number of children who are ready to start school in the county. This collective impact approach aligns the work of key community programs that support families before the birth of a child through age 5, when that child begins kindergarten. Principal partners in this work are Children’s Home Society, GenerationEd, Guilford County, Guilford County Schools and many others. The Duke Endowment, in partnership with Blue Meridian Partners has been the principal funder of the Ready Ready systems building work and has been joined by other local and national funders. 

 

New GCS Staffer is Helping Students in High Point Get Ready for Kindergarten and Life

Timaiya Stocks is a mother of two school-aged children, an educator, and a lover of her community. She is also the first Early Childhood to Kindergarten Transition Consultant at Guilford County Schools (GCS), working at two Title 1 schools in the High Point area – Allen Jay Elementary and Fairview Elementary. More than half of the families attending both schools experience economic challenges, and both schools have been identified by the state of North Carolina as needing additional support to enhance student achievement.

The Early Childhood to Kindergarten Transition Consultant position is the first of its kind in the district, created to enhance the experiences of children and families transitioning to kindergarten, and to strengthen alignment between early childhood programs and kindergarten classrooms.

Kindergarten is a critical year for children. As Ready Ready worked with GCS to look for ways to help more children start kindergarten ready to learn, creating a position like Timaiya’s was identified as a valuable early intervention to test. Only 38% of children in Guilford County are enrolled in licensed early childcare. As a result, 50% of children start kindergarten without critical skills needed to thrive, contributing to a negative trend where only 47% are reaching reading proficiency by third grade, a key indicator of future academic achievement and graduation rates.

Timaiya began her post in November 2024 and brings experience teaching pre-K, kindergarten and first grade in the High Point area. She spends her days developing relationships with parents, attending community events where parents are, and working with students and teachers at both schools. She is learning what the barriers are for parents trying to understand what their kids need to be ready to start kindergarten and reaching out to families who may already be struggling with absenteeism.

Stocks also assists with literacy small groups in kindergarten and school readiness groups in Pre-K. She provides one-on-one support for students practicing sounds, writing and reading decodable texts. Stocks works with students to practice academic concepts and to develop social skills in small groups. Both skill development areas will help students transition well to kindergarten. “I’m passionate about these students,” commented Stocks. “I love this community and want to do all I can to help our students have better outcomes,” she continued. 

Parents are experiencing the positive impact of her work. Latiesha Lipsey, Pre-K parent at Fairview Elementary commented, “I feel supported and informed with the efforts being made to support the kindergarten transition. I am not sure of where I want my daughter to go to school next year, however, I know that you’ve been helpful, and I love the school. I appreciate the help and resources. I love Fairview and the support makes me want her to stay.”

Ready Ready and GCS are exploring what it would take to add more Kindergarten Transition Consultants throughout the county in the future. GCS, in partnership with Shift_ed, Gen Ed, and Ready for School, Ready for Life has promoted strong kindergarten transition practices this year. These practices have had a major impact. After only one month of kindergarten registration, over 50% of projected rising kindergarten families have started the registration process – that’s 2,300 students already registered for kindergarten early in the spring!! To learn more, visit the kindergarten registration page for GCS.