Parents as Teachers is a national home visiting program recognized by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Home Visiting Evidence of Effectiveness project as a home visiting model that meets the criteria as an “Evidence-based Early Childhood Home Visiting Service Delivery Model.” The national Parents as Teachers model program builds strong communities, thriving families, and children who are healthy, safe and ready to learn by matching parents and caregivers with trained professionals, known as Parent Educators. Parent Educators make regular personal home visits during a child’s earliest years in life, from prenatal through kindergarten. The national Parents as Teachers model program provides a broad context of parenting education and family support that builds protective factors, especially for those families in vulnerable situations. At its core, the national Parents as Teachers model program is relationship-based and parenting-focused. Curriculum focuses on parent-child interaction, development-centered parenting, and family well-being; on strengths, capabilities and skills; and on building protective factors within the family. Services are provided primarily in the home and through group connection activities. The national Parent as Teachers model programming assists primary caregivers to identify strengths and set goals for themselves and their family.
PAT Founding Director Mildred Winter reflects on school conditions and attitudes toward learning that lead to the beginnings of the Parents as Teachers program in the early 1980's.