Parents as Teacher's celebrates 25 years

Missouri's Parents As Teachers Program focuses on education beginning at home. Photo illustration

"As a new parent looking for an 'owner's manual' to care for a new baby, PAT was my lifeline," Bond said. "And, just as I reveled in each new stage of Sam's development from infancy to adulthood, it has meant so much to see PAT grow, develop and expand beyond all our wildest expectations."

The senator was joined in celebrating the programs 25th anniversary by Sue Stepleton, president and CEO of PAT.

"It's thrilling to be celebrating the 25th anniversary of Parents as Teachers and the 3 million children served by this program in Missouri alone," Stepleton said. "It's doubly thrilling to be honoring Senator Bond. Without Kit when he was Governor, Parents as Teachers might never have gotten such a powerful start. And without his ongoing support and advocacy it would never have grown to be in all fifty states and 6 countries outside of the United States. The Senator is an unfailing friend of young children. He's a Children's Champion and we look forward to the chance to salute him with deep enthusiasm and gratitude."

Kim Collins, PAT Director for the Kennett School District, which serves about 120 children age birth to three-years and 100 children between three and five-years, said she feels one of the programs successes is in integrating the students and families into the school district.

Collins, who also attended the celebration, said that the families first become familiar with the school district through the PAT program and when it is time for that student to start kindergarten, the family is already acquainted with the administrators and faculty of the district, making for an easier transition.

Collins also said the program tries to emphasize that learning begins at home, and the parents are the children's' best teachers.

"We are there to help," Collins said, "but we try to emphasize that the parents are the first-line in the process."

The PAT program, which serves children between the ages of birth and five-years-old, began in the 1970s when state educators noticed that as children began kindergarten, they had varying levels of learning readiness.

The program officially started in 1981 with funding through the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and the Danforth Foundation, originally being used as a pilot project for first-time parents.

Senator Bond, who played an integral part in the program's growth and development, signed the Early Childhood Development Act in 1984, requiring all Missouri school districts to provide PAT services. Since then, the program has been developed in all 50 states and seven foreign countries.

"It is a tremendous honor to be considered a 'father' of the PAT program," Bond said. "And I will always consider it to be a highlight of my career. But this program has many fathers -- and mothers -- so many other people deserve the credit for the success of Parents as Teachers. Thanks to you, the message we are sending to the future -- through these children and their parents -- is very bright indeed."

For more information on the Parents As Teachers Program, visit the elementary department of your local school or log on to www.parentsasteachers.org.