PARENTS AS TEACHERS
The first Parents as Teachers sites started serving families in St. Louis, Missouri in 1981 with the belief that parents are their children's first and best teachers. In 1984, Kit Bond and the Missouri General Assembly passed the Early Childhood Education Act to establish the Parents as Teachers program statewide. This propelled Parents as Teachers into a national and international program, now serving families in all 50 states and six countries. From its onset, the Parents as Teachers model has focused on identifying developmental and health delays and providing parents with knowledge and tools to support child development and well being.
Here you will find general information on the Parents as Teachers model and Texas Parents as Teachers (TXPAT). Much of the information below comes directly from the Parents as Teachers National Center website. Learn more at www.parentsasteachers.org.
Evidence-Based Model
The Parents as Teachers Evidence-Based Model is the comprehensive home-visiting, parent education model used by Parents as Teachers Affiliates. The model provides services to families with children from prenatal through kindergarten. Affiliates follow the essential requirements of the model, which provide minimum expectations for program design, infrastructure, and service delivery. Parents as Teachers provides support for affiliates to meet those requirements as well as further quality standards that represent best practices in the field.
FOUR DYNAMIC COMPONENTS TO THE PARENTS AS TEACHERS MODEL:
Personal Visits
Group Connections
Resource Network
Child Screening
TOGETHER, THESE FOUR COMPONENTS FORM A COHESIVE PACKAGE OF SERVICES WITH FOUR PRIMARY GOALS:
Increase parent knowledge of early childhood development and improve parent practices
Provide early detection of developmental delays and health issues
Prevent child abuse and neglect
Increase children’s school readiness and success
The Parents as Teachers model for providing services to families with children from the prenatal period to kindergarten has been tested by rigorous peer-reviewed studies and shown to produce results. Affiliates follow the essential requirements of the model, which provide minimum expectations for program design, infrastructure, and service delivery. Parents as Teachers provides support for affiliates to meet those requirements as well as further quality standards that represent best practices in the field.
LOGIC MODEL
The Parents as Teachers logic model is the theoretical framework the program uses to create positive outcomes for both families and children. It starts with the values and goals of the program on the left hand side and then to the activities that work towards those goals and eventually the outcomes that reflect the goals.
TEXAS STATE OFFICE
Texas Parents as Teachers provides support to all affiliates, curriculum partners, and subscribers within the state that utilize the Parents as Teachers model and curriculum. TXPAT staff assist in program initiation, fund procurement, quality assurance and improvement, model implementation, and advocacy. Texas Parents as Teachers also acts as a liaison among affiliate funders, the Parents as Teachers National Center, data system managers, and the affiliate. To learn more about TXPAT staff see the About tab.
DESIGN
Below is the Parents as Teachers Stages of Implementation Diagram demonstrating the various steps sites go through to establish service and the components that make up those steps. Texas Parents as Teachers assists sites in each step of this process and is represented by the light blue ring surrounding the core circle (titled Program Support and Technical Assistance).
