A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

Audience Approved by PEP for parents/guardians of children below the age of three.

Description Parents as Teachers is designed as a primary prevention program for all families aimed at helping parents give their children a solid foundation for school success and at forming a closer working relationship between home and school. It is based on the philosophy that parents are children's first and most influential teachers. As a parent involvement program from the earliest years, Parents As Teachers directly impacts the first National Goal for Education addressing school readiness. Parent educators trained in this model deliver family services using the Parents As Teachers curriculum, which includes information on child development and guidance in fostering a child's development. Services include regularly scheduled personal visits in the home, parent group meetings, periodic screening and monitoring of educational and sensory development, and access to a parent resource center.

Evidence of Effectiveness Children of parents participating in the program score significantly higher at age three on the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children and the Zimmerman Preschool Language Scale, and score significantly higher at the end of grade one on standardized tests of reading and mathematics than the comparison and nationally normed groups. After three years in the program, parents demonstrate significantly more knowledge on program-developed and validated scales of child development knowledge and child-rearing practices; are more likely to regard their school district as responsive to a child's needs; and are more likely to have children's hearing professionally tested than the comparison parents. The greater the parent participation in the program the better children performed on measures of intellectual and language development. At the end of grade one, parents who participated in the program were found to be significantly more involved in their children's school experience than were comparison group parents.

Requirements Program services are offered through the school district for a minimum of eight months, preferably year round. The comprehensive program requires strong commitment to the philosophy of the program; availability of parent educator(s) with skills necessary to work with parents in a supportive learning environment; training for the parent educator(s); facilities for parent group meetings; and financial resources to support the parent educator(s) in the work of the program.

Costs Start-up cost is $2,725 for training and materials/supplies. Operation costs for 12 months are estimated at $562 per family (assuming a 60-family load per full-time parent educator), and include parent educator salary, travel, and additional materials/supplies. This assumes school district contribution of space, clerical assistance, and program administration.

Services In addition to training and curriculum materials, consultation and follow-up services are available through the Parents as Teachers National Center.

Contact

Mildred Winter, Director, Parents as Teachers National Center, Inc., 9374 Olive Boulevard, St. Louis, MO 63132. (314) 432-4330 or Sharon Rhodes, Program Development Director.

Developmental funding: Title IV-C ESEA, Danforth Foundation, state, and local.
PEP No. 91-2 (2/19/91)

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[On The Way to SUCCESS in Reading and Writing with Early Prevention of School Failure (Ages 4-7)]

[P.I.A.G.E.T. (Promoting Intellectual Adaptation Given Experiential Transforming), Project]