Parents As Teachers

Supporting Families as Their Child's First Teacher

Parents as Teachers (PAT) is an international early childhood parent education and family support program that serves families from pregnancy until their child enters kindergarten at age 5. As a school readiness program, PAT is designed to give children the best possible start in life while supporting parents in their role as their child’s first and most influential teacher.

The program helps families and guardians understand their child’s development and connects them with resources to make informed decisions that support their child’s growth and learning.

Parents as Teachers is available at no cost to families and guardians with children ages 0–5.

enroll in the program

Vision

All children will learn, grow, and develop to realize their full potential.

Mission

To prove the information, support and encouragement parents need to help their children develop optimally during the crucial early years of life.

Values

The early years of a child's life are critical for optimal development and provide the foundation for success in school and in life.
Parents are their children's first and most influential teachers.
Established and emerging research should be the foundation of parent education and family support curricula, training, materials and services.
All children and their families deserve the same opportunities to succeed, regardless of any demographic, geographic or economic considerations.
An understanding and appreciation of the history and traditions of diverse cultures is essential in serving families.

Goals

Increase parent knowledge of early childhood development and improve parenting practices
Provide early detection of developmental delays and health issues
Prevent child abuse and neglect
Increase children's school readiness and school success

Program Overview

Summary

We work with parents during the critical early years of their children's lives, from prenatal to kindergarten—and the results are powerful!

By understanding what to expect during each stage of a child’s development, parents can easily capture the teachable moment’s in everyday life to enhance their child’s language, intellectual growth, social development and motor skills.

All families can benefit from this kind of support. Parents as Teachers families come from all configurations and all socio-economic levels.

Parents as Teachers is a strong evidence-based home visiting model providing a broad context of parenting education and family support, and building protective factors, especially for those families in vulnerable situations. At its core, Parents as Teachers is relationship-based and parenting-focused. Our approach and curriculum focus on parent-child interaction, development-centered parenting, and family well-being; on strengths, capabilities and skills; and on building protective factors within the family. Parents as Teachers serves a range of families with high needs—not just first time parents, pregnant parents or teen parents—and offers services throughout the continuum from prenatal to kindergarten entry.

Research Findings

The National PAT office has done research and has found:

PAT children outscored their peers on measures of school readiness and later school achievement

PAT children were more advanced than other 3 year-olds in language and social development, problem-solving, and other intellectual skills

PAT children performed better than non-PAT children in elementary school

PAT parents took a more active role in their children’s schooling than did non-PAT parents

PAT was found to reduce placement in special education; and lowered the incidences of abuse and neglect

Quality Standards

In September 2014, the Wichita Falls Parents as Teachers program began to serve Wichita County community. Our goal is to increase the quality of the PAT program from every aspect. The Wichita Falls ISD realized the needs of early childhood. By implementing the PAT program, they are focused on ensuring the success of all students by starting at early childhood.

The evaluations have been completed, and now we are ready to go forward in implementing the changes that have been recommended. It has been an exciting process, and we look forward to improving our services for parents and children.

Enrollment

The Wichita Falls Parents as Teachers program is ready to serve you!

All services provided by Parents as Teachers is free of charge. If you are interested in enrolling in our program, please call 940-235-4317 or email sparsons@wfisd.net.

Enrolling in the PAT program does not obligate you in any way. You are welcome to start attending our group connections as soon as you have enrolled.

Group Connections

PAT group connections are held each month with families that are in the program as well as those in the community. It is a social connection in a learning environment for parents and their children. We spend one hour teaching fun hands on activities that increase the child’s early development. Parents learn from and support one another with the encouragement of parent educators.

The benefits of PAT Group Connection are:

Language development
Hands-on learning opportunities
Small/gross motor skills
Interaction with other children
Musical development: Singing and Instruments
Social skills; sharing, taking turns, etc.
Creative development
Self confidence
A connection from your home to a school setting
Having fun!

Resource Network Directory

GET IN TOUCH

Stephanie Parsons, Parents as Teachers Coordinator
Address | 1104 Broad Street, Wichita Falls, TX 76301
Phone | 940-235-4317
Email | sparsons@wfisd.net

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